Naruto: Fractured Fate
by 10000 Fists
Summary: During his battle with Sasuke at the Valley of the End, Naruto passes away only to find that his life is a video game. Intelligent!Naruto, Sarcastic!Naruto. Rated M for violence, language, and some sensual content much later on.
1. Death and Character Creation

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or the game(s) Fallout 3/New Vegas. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto, and Bethesda Softworks respectively… I am just having some fun!

Iruka-sensei and Mizuki walk into the classroom. They put their papers down on the respective side of their shared desk, before turning to face the assembled mass of students.

"Good morning, students! My name is Iruka Umino, and this is my teaching assistant Mizuki Hoshi, but you will call us sensei. OK, class? Now I want you all to say, 'Good morning Iruka-Sensei'. Ready and…"

"Good Morning, Iruka-sensei."

"Very good, now say good morning to Mizuki-sensei. Ready and…"

"Good Morning, Mizuki-sensei."

"Good morning, class!" Mizuki said brightly.

"We're off to a good start! Now Mizuki and I are going to be teaching you all how to become Shinobi! Now settle down class, most of you are still six years away from becoming ninja. Now over the course of your tenure here, we will learn all about the history of our great village. You will learn mathematics, the sciences, and the rules that govern both the village and the shinobi who serve it. You will also learn about chakra, how to control it, and how to utilize it in the fundamental three pillars of shinobi, those pillars being Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu. Now that seems like a lot to learn, I know, and I have high expectations for all of you, but remember all of this is going to take place over the next six years. Now to start with, how about we take it a bit easy on the first day, play some games and get to know each other."

Iruka uses the back of his hand to stifle his chuckles at the children's excited outburst.

"All right then. I see we are all in agreement." Pointing into the assembled mass before him, seemingly at random, Iruka selected the first student to start a student, "Let's start with you, and are you a boy or a girl?"

I glanced curiously up at my former teacher, a puzzled expression playing across my face

By this immediately before his outburst, the world seemed to dim, and take on a hue of orange. In front of him there appears a large, glowing, orange, translucent rectangle, with two smaller rectangles inside of it, labeled 'BOY' and 'GIRL'.

I stared, slack-jawed and silent at the screen in front of me… Before screaming

"What the hell is going on?"

I started to panic by this point, so I frantically search the room around me, and there I see all of my friends, Ino sitting next to Sakura-chan, Kiba without Akamaru, and there was the Bastard, looking all… happy and smiling? I shook my head, resolving to think over that bit LATER. There was Hinata, sitting demurely in the back of the class, Shino not far away. There was Shikamaru, holding his head up drowsily, lazily. And there right next to him was Chouji with a bag of chips, and his hand frozen halfway to his mouth.

Wait…

He was frozen?

Looking around quickly, I saw that they all were sitting there in the same state as Chouji, staring vacantly at nothing as time passed by, unmoving. Hell, it didn't even look like they were breathing. So I reacted as any 12 year old knucklehead would

"HOLD ON GUYS! I'M…" I shouted before moving to get up and help them… Only to find that while I was able to shout and move my arms and head, I was as stuck to my seat as any of them.

"What the-?" I exclaimed, shocked at my situation.

Screaming desperately for help, I struggled and wriggled this way and that in an attempt to detach myself from his prison, but to no avail.

"All right," I ground out, "I can't move I have to be patient, like Kakashi-sensei tried to teach me."

Taking a moment, I focused on simply relaxing, trying to come up with a way out of my predicament…before smacking myself in the forehead.

"OF COURSE, Rasengan!"

Taking another moment to center myself, I tried to recreate that perfect Rasengan I had when I battled Sasuke. Holding up my right hand, I concentrated on molding my chakra.

After several minutes of having no visible effect whatsoever had passed, I started to groan in frustration again.

"Why is NOTHING WORKING?" I shouted, throwing my hands up in the air before slamming my head and arms down on the desk in exasperation.

Hearing a happy little chime, I looked up.

YOU HAVE CHOSEN 'GIRL', ARE YOU SURE THIS IS YOUR SELECTION?

YES NO

Pause…

"NOONONONONONO!" I screamed before selecting the same.

Breathing a sigh of relief when the screen reverted back to its previous state, I furrowed my brow in an attempt to do something I rarely did, and absolutely loathed… Thinking.

"All right, so how did I get myself into this mess?"

_/Flashback/_

An explosion echoed as I plunged into the water of the Valley floor. Water swirled around me as tides ricocheted off the stone walls of the Valley of the End. But even for all the sounds and the violent crashing of the water, or even my present state of being 60 feet below the surface, only one thought passed through my mind.

'Sasuke intended to kill me. My friend, the man who I would've call brother, the person who represented everything that I wanted to be (though I would never tell him that), had attempted to take my life.

Floating back to the surface of the now calm river, I looked back towards the waterfall, and him.

"Naruto"

I started to stand back up on the water.

"It is said that high level shinobi can read each other's intentions, even their hearts by simply exchanging blows." Squinting, I saw those black marks begin to cover his skin. "So, what did you see in this heart of mine?" Sasuke finished, forming hand signs for another attack.

'KATON: PHOENIX FIRE JUTSU'

I jumped off the water to dodge the fireballs racing towards me, glancing around to find Sasuke. Milliseconds after dodging Sasuke's technique, I see him appear right beside me in midair. 'He's as fast as Lee' was my thought before I gagged on the powerful strike I got in the stomach. Flying backward, I plunged into the water once again as Sasuke landed softly atop the waves.

Waiting for me to resurface, Sasuke stood patiently with his arms folded across his chest.

Surfacing, I spat out the lungful of water I had received.

"I am stronger than you Naruto." Sasuke said in a low, confident voice. "I have always been stronger than you. I always will be stronger than you. I am a genius, an Uchiha, an Avenger! And you will always be the Dobe."

Shaking my waterlogged head at his words, I looked him straight in his Sharingan eye, "No. What I once was does not determine who I will be. But what we both are, are friends. And as a friend, I am asking you to come with me back to Konoha."

It was Sasuke's turn to shake his head, "Friendship is just one more bond I must break. The only bonds I have are those of Hatred. Hatred towards my brother, Itachi."

I roared back in anger, "So that's it? None of what we did back in Konoha mattered? I thought that we were friends! I thought that Team 7 was like a family!"

"IT WAS!" Sasuke snapped back, "And you were the person I was closest to. You were my best friend…" Sasuke trailed off quietly.

Shocked into silence, I stared at my friend as he looked down at his hands. Slowly his hands clenched into fists, and he lifted his head upwards. I was pinned where I stood under the blazing hatred in his fully matured Sharingan eyes.

"And that is exactly why I have to kill you." His curse mark started to develop his entire body, turning it first black, and then a mottled grey color. His Hair turned an odd shade of purple, the famous red Sharingan turned yellow, and a bizarre star formed on his nose. On top of all that, what confused me most at the moment was why he was wearing glossy lipstick.

"Sasuke, I may be a moron, because I have no idea what you are talking about." Shaking my head in stunned frustration I lowered my head, "I only know that we were friends, we ARE friends." Closed my eyes, "I know I made a promise to Sakura-chan to bring you back to Konoha, to reunite Team 7 again," and reached for the Kyuubi's chakra inside the seal. "And I am going to do it," My eyes snapped open, showing the red slits that they had become. "Even if I have to break every bone in your body, and DRAG you back!"

With that said, we launched at each other, the water exploding into a maelstrom around us. Over the next few minutes we pushed each other further and further, far past any limit that either of us had set for ourselves. I reached for more and more of the Kyuubi's chakra, until it had formed a cloud around me and my consciousness had started to ebb. Sasuke had also pushed himself further into his curse seal, growing wins that looked like giant hands. Still we fought.

'Win or die' was the thought that raced through my head, 'win or die'. He launched himself in the air, raining down fire balls from on high, while I ducked into the water, launching limbs made of chakra trying to pull him back down. Amidst all of his fireballs, I barely noticed him swoop down directly towards me. I brought my chakra enhanced arms up in a feeble defense before getting knocked back into the feet of the statue of Hashirama Senju.

"I see now, Naruto." Sasuke said, hovering in the air above me, Nightmare Wings flapping. "You are special. I am just more special." He said grandiosely.

Quickly forming another chakra limb, I grabbed him by one of his Nightmare Wings and threw him into the feet of the statue opposite me.

Laughing, Sasuke climbed to his feet.

"This. Is. FUN!" Sasuke cried out, laughing maniacally.

"SASUKE!" I shouted out him, trying to snap him out of it, or undo whatever the Snake Bastard had done. "That Seal is starting to affect your mind! Can't you see that?" I growled out.

"I DON'T CARE!" He shouted right back at me, sweeping his arm in front of him and clenching his fist. "AS LONG AS I GET MY REVENGE, AS LONG AS ITACHI SUFFERS, AS LONG AS I RECEIVE THE POWER OF AN AVENGER, I COULD CARE LESS WHAT HAPPENS TO ME!"

"YOU BASTARD! I CARE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS! SO DO KAKASHI-SENSEI AND SAKURA-CHAN, AND THERE IS NO WAY AM I LETTING THAT SNAKE GET HIS FANGS INTO YOU! YOU'RE COMING BACK TO KONOHA WITH ME!" I shouted back at him, lowering my right hand, I began to mold chakra.

Sasuke was laughed again, going through hand seals, "I'd like to see you try Dead last!" Sasuke dropped his right hand, holding onto a tainted and blackened Chidori.

"SASUKE!" I shouted, forming the first perfect Rasengan in my life.

"NARUTO!" He shouted back, leaping towards me, tainted Chidori leading the way.

Then I leaped, my Rasengan pushed out in front of me.

The next few moments seemed to last forever, as our attacks slowly closed in on each other.

My life with Team 7 flashed before my eyes.

'Rescuing' Tora the demon cat from the forests.

Painting fences and doing household labor for my first 'Missions'.

Tazuna, Inari, Haku, Zabuza, the massive completed bridge, and all the people that celebrated their freedom from the oppression of Gato and his thugs.

Going through the Chunin Exams, and facing the twin terrors of Orochimaru and Gaara.

Protecting Princess Fujikaze and overthrowing that dictator in the land of Snow, now the land of Spring.

Helping Idate win his race.

All the big, important moments of the team, and all the stupid, little ones that I never thought I would remember or even think about again flashed through my mind. Shortly followed by a short, but profound realization.

'I don't want to kill my friend.'

Pulling my hand up and to the right of Sasuke, I cleared him just in time, hitting his Forehead Protector, but not his head.

Sasuke wasn't so kind with his technique.

The blackened Chidori plunged straight through my chakra cloud and into my stomach.

I remember the feeling of falling then, back into the water below. The feeling of waves hitting me was the last thing I remember before falling unconscious.

When I awoke again, I remember lying on something hard, feeling dizzy, and seeing Sasuke standing above me, a shocked expression on playing across his face.

After that I started to fade out, my eyes feeling heavier and heavier. I think I remember Kaka-sensei saying "STAY WITH ME", but I can't say for sure.

Slowly I closed my eyes, and I felt myself drift away.

Then I started to hear voices.

"_And so our brave hero passed from this world, taking the great demon Kyuubi with him. The impact that he had upon the elemental countries would be felt for years to come.'_ A man's voice spoke somberly as a picture of me with a gory hole in my chest took up my world.

I tried to call out, to scream, to do something, anything. But I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. All I could do, was to exist there, listening as the consequences of my life and death echoed.

"_Their purpose for existence gone, the Akatsuki gradually faded away as the criminals that had once bolstered its ranks turned away to better prospects. In the end, the leader to the once most formidable criminal network in existence, passed away from natural causes."_

"_Konoha prospered from the long and peaceful reign of its fifth Hokage, Tsunade Senju. Its aspiring ninja always looked to the example of the Rookie 5, the remnants of the teams that took part in the Chunin Exams during the invasion of Oto, and Suna. Eventually Tsunade retired from the title of Hokage, the second ever to do so. Handing the hat off to a matured Konohamaru Sarutobi, he could be heard to say on his inauguration day, 'This one's for you, boss.'"_

"_Having been captured by Kakashi while he stood horrified as the blood of his best friend covered his hands, Sasuke Uchiha successfully claimed before the Hokage and her advisors, that the Cursed Seal of Heaven was affecting his mental state, turning him against those he once considered friends. As a response to this danger, the Hokage then ordered the Uchiha's chakra sealed permanently, so as to avoid the seals ill effects. Prevented from being a Ninja, Sasuke spent out the remainder of his days squandering his wealth by hiring assassins to go after his older brother. To his everlasting shame, all of their missions were failures."_

"_After seeing the corpse of her team-mate, Sakura Haruno gave up on her dreams to become an ANBU, and to marry Sasuke Uchiha. She stayed a low level employee of Konoha for the remainder of her days, her sense of self-worth gone in the wake of the demolition of team 7."_

"_Seeing the son of his sensei and the number 1 most surprising, hyper-active, knuckleheaded ninja of Konoha on the ground, passing away, Kakashi Hatake felt the last remaining piece of hope in his life die. After bringing his student's corpse and the traitorous Uchiha back to Konoha, Kakashi resigned the position of Jonin-sensei. He went back to being an ANBU captain, removing all remaining personal ties in his life. He died 13 years later during a routine patrol along the Konoha-Kumo border, taking out the leader of a pack of missing nin, and the 5 shinobi with him."_

"_Konohamaru Sarutobi grew up to be everything he saw his 'boss' to be and more. Where there was corruption, he would bring justice. Where there was weakness, he would bring strength. Where there was war, he would bring peace. The Rokudaime Hokage would be presented as the single most influential Hokage in all of history. Asked many years later what gave him the drive to do all that he did, he would simply respond, 'Onii-san.' When stepping down from the office of Hokage, Konohamaru made sure to teach each of his grandchildren the 'Kage Killer', an S-rank Kinjutsu."_

"_The economy of the village of Wave turned around after the completion of its 'super bridge', going so far as to become the number one exporter of prime fresh fish for Konoha and Fire Country. Credited with the success of Wave, Tazuna became the new mayor of Wave village. Tazuna, Inari, and the rest of the village of Wave would continue to draw inspiration from the 'Great Naruto Bridge', so named for the bravest and strongest ninja they ever knew._

"_Tsunade left the village again after handing the Hokage hat to the young Sarutobi, this time unaccompanied by her trustworthy apprentice, who had stayed behind to run the hospital in Konoha. Tsunade continued to whittle away her fortune in the casino's and bars of Fire Country. While betting at the tables or demolishing a towns sake supply, she could be seen crying, holding up an allegedly cursed necklace."_

"_After the death of his godson, Jiraiya was so grief stricken he completely gave up on his Icha Icha series, saying that they reminded him of the reason he got into writing too much. He instead solely represented Konoha's interests abroad, running his spy networks to keep his home well informed. Jiraiya continued to run the spy networks of Konoha well into his 80's before resigning his position as a ninja to retire to the toad sanctuary upon Mount Myobuki. Upon his death bed, Jiraiya was said to beg forgiveness of Kami, for failing his students."_

"_And so, the Destiny Child's journey came to an end. In the Shinobi world, though, blood would continue to be spilled, as many lived and died in the great circle of violence and war that had so marked the ages past and would mark the ages yet to come. In the end, though his friends would remember him unto his dying day, nothing had really changed._

The voice faded as music picked up, playing a mournful song as I continued to exist, deprived of all my senses. Eventually even the mournful music faded, leaving me drifting in the void.

I'm not sure how long I stayed like that, floating along. It could have been hours, days, or weeks. But eventually I started to feel something. I felt hard wood underneath my hands, smelt the sharp stink of body odor, and heard quiet chattering around me. It sounded like…children?

Opening my eyes I saw that I was in my old classroom with all of my old class mates… scratch that, with chibified versions of my classmates. They all looked like they were 5 or 6.

I heard the door at the front of the classroom open and in stepped Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-teme.

_/Flashback ends/_

"All right. So I died because of something I never would have expected, I hear a voice that that went over all of my friends lives after I died, I am in a room that I haven't been in in months, surrounded by younger versions of my friends, and Mizuki is somehow not in prison OR attacking me."

I began to rub my temples in a vain attempt to stave off a headache from so much thinking.

"This can't be heaven, because Mizuki-teme is here, and there's a big floating question in front of me which has a PRETTY FRIGGIN OBVIOUS ANSWER!" I yelled out in frustration, before talking a few calming breaths.

"So, I am stuck to this chair, I can't jutsu my out of the chair, and everyone is frozen except for me, kinda."

Looking around slowly at all of his classmates, I thought of an answer.

"No way out but forward. I'll play this game for now, to see where it goes."

Reaching for the box labeled 'BOY', I just hope I don't regret this.

A soft chime was heard in the frozen classroom and there appeared a new screen.

YOU HAVE CHOSEN 'BOY', ARE YOU SURE THIS IS YOUR SELECTION?

YES NO

Quickly selecting 'YES', I was relieved when the classroom proceeded to unfreeze, starting with Chouji finally demolishing the chip he had been holding.

"Good." Iruka said, smiling, "Now, what is your first name?"

The world took on its orange hue as another translucent screen popped up in front of me.

STATE OR WRITE YOUR FIRST NAME

"Naruto."

YOU HAVE CHOSEN 'NARUTO' ARE YOU SURE?

YES NO

I hit the 'YES' button with a sigh.

'So far so good, hopefully the sooner I get this done, the sooner I can get back to…' I frowned as the class unfroze. I was dead; I had DIED at the hands of a traitor. What did I have to get back to? Where was I even now?

Shaking my head, I tried to refocus on the task at hand. Answering the questions and seeing where it led me.

So deep in thought was I, that I had missed Iruka's next question completely, and was quite surprised to find the next question screen staring me in the face.

"WAAAHHHHH." I shrieked, flailing my arms, "Stupid…THINGS and their stupid popping up!"

Taking a moment, I calmed before looking at the question before me.

SELECT YOUR FAMILY NAME

UZUMAKI

SENJU

"What? Senju? Isn't that what Baa-chan's name is?"

HYUUGA

"Neji's family? But what is it doing here?"

INUZUKA

"Now Kiba's family? Next thing you know it will be Sasuke-teme's!" Shaking my head I read the last name on the list.

YAMAMOTO

"And I don't recognize that name at all." Ruefully sighing, I looked over the names once more.

"So I have my last name, Neji's, Kiba's, Baa-chan's, and then two names I don't recognize." Pausing a minute before shrugging helplessly, I reached for the first name on the list,

"Go with what works."

The screen disappeared, and was replaced by another.

UZUMAKI-

THE UZUMAKI FAMILY WAS PREVALENT BOTH DURING AND BEFORE THE SECOND GREAT SHINOBI WAR. THEY MADE THEIR HOME IN THE ISLAND VILLAGE OF UZUSHIOGAKURE, WHERE THEY WERE WELL KNOWN FOR THEIR LARGE CHAKRA CAPACITIES, GENERAL TOUGHNESS AND CAPABILITIES IN THE SEALING ARTS. HOWEVER, THEIR SKILLS HAD GARNERED TOO MUCH ATTENTION AND HOSTILITY, AND SO THE VILLAGE WAS ERADICATED DURING THE SECOND SHINOBI WAR. THE SURVIVORS OF THE DISASTER FLED TO THE MAINLAND, SOME TO THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES WHILE OTHERS SCATTERED TO THE WINDS. ONE SURVIVOR IN PARTICULAR, WHO HAD BEEN STAYING IN KONOHA AND AVOIDED THE DISASTER, WAS GIVEN THE DUTY BY HER HOST VILLAGE TO CARRY THE BURDEN OF THE KYUUBI. THAT SURVIVOR WAS NAMED KUSHINA UZUMAKI, AND SHE IS YOUR MOTHER. NOW ALL THAT IS LEFT OF THE ONCE GREAT AND NOBLE CLAN IS YOU. WHETHER THE CLAN WILL FOREVER REMAIN ON ONLY THE PAGES OF HISTORY, OR WHETHER IT WILL BE LED INTO A NEW AND GLORIOUS AGE REMAINS TO BE SEEN

YOU HAVE SELECTED 'UZUMAKI', ARE YOU SURE?

YES NO

A pause…

"My mom's name is Kushina. I never knew that her family, My family, used to be famous…" Deciding to *shudder* _think_ about it later, I then selected yes, continuing on.

"Naruto Uzumaki, good to meet you!" Iruka said with a smile, "Now everyone says, 'Hello Naruto'. Ready and…"

"Hello, Naruto"

"Very good, class! Now let's continue with the introductions and… you, miss, what's your name?"

And so it went, with the whole class introducing themselves and what family/clan they were from until there was no who had not spoken.

"All right students, now we are going to do a quick test, to see where all of you are, physically and academically." Iruka waved his hands while Mizuki smirked at the collective groaning of the students. "Now, now, it isn't that bad… In fact this is a very SPECIAL Test. Now take one and pass it along, and I have pens at the front for anyone who didn't bring their own."

And with that, the pieces of paper began flying around the class in the hands of small children. It was 3 minutes later when I finally managed to grab a test of my own. 'If I have to keep dealing with these little kids, I might just go insane, even if they ARE my friends later.'

Looking down at the peculiar test I saw spelled across the top.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

Squinting at the strange title, my eyes scrolled down to the next item.

5 POINTS REMAINING

A sigh, "Oh what fresh hell is this?"

S IS FOR STRENGTH, WHICH AFFECTS HOW MUCH YOU CAN CARRY, HOW MUCH EXTRA DAMAGE IS DONE WITH BUKIJUTSU, AND IT GOVERNS THE SKILLS OF BUKIJUTSU AND SMITHING.

- 5 +

"So I have 5 Strength? That seems…low." I furrowed his brow in concentration, before hitting the first right arrow twice, changing my strength score to 7. But he noticed that he only had 3 points remaining

"So I have 5 points to spend on like my strength and speed and stuff? THAT'S SO COOL! I'm gonna be wicked stronger when I get outta this stupid thing!"

Shaking in excitement, I hit the bottom most right arrow, flipping the test to its next page.

P IS FOR PERCEPTION, YOUR ABILITY TO READ INTO THINGS AND SITUATIONS. PERCEPTION GOVERNS THE GENJUTSU AND LOCKPICKING SKILLS, WHILE ALSO ALLOWING YOU TO TRACK PEOPLE MOVING AROUND YOU.

- 4 +

I grunted in frustration.

"Man, I wanted something cool, like Ninjutsu or like speed or something.

"Well it sounds like there's nothing in there I use anyway, so let's take some points off of that."

I touched the left arrow three times, dropping my total Perception down to 1, but doing so, I noticed that my points to spend had gone up to 6.

"So when I add, I have less Points Remaining, but when I take away, I get more!? TOO COOL!"

I flipped to the next page, eager to see what awaited me next.

E IS FOR ENDURANCE, YOUR ABILITY TO TAKE A HIT AND GIVE ONE BACK. ENDURANCE GOVERNS THE SKILLS OF TAIJUTSU AND NINJUTSU, AFFECTS THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF HEALTH AND CHAKRA YOU HAVE, AND HOW MUCH DAMAGE YOU CAN RESIST.

- 9 +

"NOW THAT IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! I always knew I was tough, but this is just AWESOME!" I shouted, attempting to do my happy dance before remembering I was still stuck to the chair. "Ahhh, right… stupid chair."

Refocusing on his Endurance score, I was struck with an additional thought, 'Wait, if it's already at 9, how high can my score go?'

After some experimentation, I figured out the lowest score he could have was 1 and the highest score was 10

"Like on a scale of one to 10, ramen from Ichiraku's would be a 10 for awesome!" I shouted triumphantly. "I'll keep this at 9 for now and look at the rest of my scores." And with that, I turned the page to find my next attribute.

C IS FOR CHARISMA, YOUR ABILITY TO TALK TO PEOPLE, MAKE FRIENDS AND ALLIES AND A MEASURE FOR HOW WILLING OTHERS ARE TO FOLLOW YOUR LEAD. AN ESSENTIAL TRAIT FOR ANY ASPIRING LEADER, CHARISMA GOVERNS THE SKILLS OF BARTER AND SPEECH.

-3+

"What, a 3? People follow me all the time! Why do I have such a low score?" Shaking with frustration, I turned the page again.

I IS FOR INTELLIGENCE, YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF ALL THINGS. YOUR INTELLIGENCE SCORE DETERMINES HOW MANY SKILL POINTS YOU RECEIVE UPON LEVELING UP, AS WELL AS GOVERNING THE SKILLS OF MEDICINE, CHAKRA CONTROL, AND FUUINJUTSU.

-2+

A five second pause occurred, while I stared at the number 2 trembling with rage, before a shout finished the unusual silence

"WHAT!" A TWO? I AM NOT THAT STUPID! I MAY BE A LITTLE SLOW SOMETIMES, or you know, like most of the time, but…. I'm not THAT stupid!"

Furious at the numbers slight on my smarts, I immediately put 4 more points on his Intelligence, bringing it to a respectable 6, with 2 Points remaining, and turned the page without any further ado.

A IS FOR AGILITY, YOUR SPEED AND REFLEXES. AGILITY DETERMINES YOUR BASE SPEED, YOUR ABILITY TO SET UP OR REMOVE TRAPS, AND GOVERNS THE SKILL OF STEALTH AND RANGED BUKIJUTSU.

- 5 +

"Well 5 isn't bad, plus I don't really sneak around that much anyway." I left the 5 how it was and turned the page.

L IS FOR LUCK, WHICH AFFECTS JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING INCLUDING ALL OF YOUR SKILLS, HOW OFTEN YOU GET A CRITICAL HIT, AND HOW MUCH RYO, OR HOW OFTEN VALUABLE ITEMS WILL BE FOUND IN CONTAINERS.

- 7 +

"A seven is good. I wanna save those two points for something BIG." I turned the page, wondering what grandiose statements would be made next…

Only to find it was an overview of all my attributes.

"Man, that's it? I wanted to see something else awesome." I pouted petulantly, casting his gaze on the summary of my attributes.

2 POINTS REMAING

STRENGTH - 7 +

PERCEPTION - 1 +

ENDURANCE - 9 +

CHARISMA - 3 +

INTELLIGENCE - 6 +

AGILITY - 5 +

LUCK - 7 +

I stared hard at the figures, trying desperately to figure out where to put my remaining two Points. I frowned a bit, looking at the column of Attributes on the left... before letting a chuckle escape my lips.

"Hehehehe, S.P.E.C.I.A.L., I get it now, it's a special test. Why didn't I see that before now?"

My eyes wandered back to the left-hand column, before settling on Perception.

"Wait, is that what perception means? I thought it was just for senses and stuff! That's why I don't pick up on jokes and things?" Shaking my head in disbelief, I placed my final two points on Perception, raising it to a silently better, but still poor score of 3.

"And I wanted to put them on something cool, too." Regretfully lowering my head, I turned the page.

YOUR SPECIAL SCORES ARE,

STRENGTH - 7 +

PERCEPTION - 3 +

ENDURANCE - 9 +

CHARISMA - 3 +

INTELLIGENCE - 6 +

AGILITY - 5 +

LUCK - 7 +

ARE YOU SURE?

YES NO

I hit the 'YES' button. Seconds later, the world lost its dull shade again and returned to its former vibrancy.

"All right when you're done, please pass them forward to Sasuke-kun, Sasuke when you have them all please hand them to me." Iruka said loudly, making sure all the children heard him.

After some loud scuffling, and many papers being flung about, the papers were finally all in Iruka's clutches. I swiftly looked around, staring at wanton chaos that so simple a command generated, staring at the chibi versions of the comrades whom I would have gladly given my life for with the eyes of an older kid, I came to a conclusion.

"This is a fucking madhouse." Shaking my head in disbelief, I pondered how in the name of Kami I would get through six years of repeating the academy ON TOP OF dealing with all the childish antics of my classmates.

"All right class, we'll be heading outside to play a fun game, so CALMLY get up and follow Mizuki-sensei outside!" Iruka finished over the cheering of the children.

I cautiously made to get up, wincing at the memory of my earlier attempts for freedom… to find that I was no longer encaged in my seat.

'That's one less thing to worry about' and with that thought, I made quickly for the door.

"Follow me, everyone." Mizuki cried over the den, "like follow the leader! See? We're playing a game already!"

Falling into line, I began to hear a strange 'whooshing', as if from a distance. My frown at the strange noise quickly grew to fear, as gleaming white began to blur out my vision

"WHAT IS HAPPE…?" I began, only to be drowned out by a roar of sound and wall of white come crashing down upon me.

Seconds of chaos and overlapping sound assaulted me before I started picking out voices amidst the bedlam.

"Now class, this is called a kunai, it is a ninja tool…" 'Was that, Iruka-sensei?'

"A-aa-ari-g-gato, N-naruto-k-kun…" 'That was Hinata! I'd recognize that stutter anywhere.'

"DAMN IT! I said I didn't want to date you Naruto! Why won't you take no…" 'And that was Sakura-chan; I'd recognize that yelling anywhere, too.' I winced in phantom pain, rubbing the back of my neck, 'and those punches.'

Puddles of black began to pool in front of my eyes, forming words amidst a sea of endless white.

6 YEARS LATER

'Wait, 6 YEARS have passed? That means I don't have to spend any time in the stupid Academy!' I thought, ecstatic that I was skipping class again, before pausing to reconsider. "But what happened during those years? Was I just on auto-pilot? What will I talk to my friends about; I won't know anything that's happened between us!'

My panic ground to a halt when world regained its color. I was looking down a street in Konoha, looking at the all the homes and stores littering the block, and I stared at the backs of two shinobi running like the hounds of hell were on their heels.

'I REMEMBER THIS! This is when I painted all over the Hokage Monument and they were chasing me in the street for like an hour and a half! And then Iruka-sensei snuck up behind me-'

"NARUTO!" Came a shout from behind me.

"BWAAAHHH" I screamed shrilly, jumping up in the air, before falling down. Staring up at my near-assassin-via-heart-attack, I shouted at Iruka, "How did you sneak up behind me, Iruka-Sensei?"

"A better question is why you are here vandalizing public property, when you should be studying for the final exam tomorrow!" Iruka shouted right back, before picking me up and whisking me back my daily prison.

Reaching the academy minutes later, I was lobbed headlong into the classroom, tumbling to stop on the hard wooden floor.

"Looks like you were so busy running around that you forgot that today was review day for the final exam." Accused the scarred Chunin, "Now you need to run along, the first part of the review is taking place with Suzume-sensei, her class room is right down the hall."

Iruka turned his head away from me and so didn't see me blinking owlishly.

'What is going on?' I thought confusedly, 'This isn't how this day happened at all! We got retested on the Henge, and then Iruka-sensei got a nose bleed from the Orioke and I-'

"Naruto, the class is just down the hall. Now get going, you're late enough as it is." Iruka said seriously, not even bothering to look up from the paper he was reviewing.

"Hai, Sensei" I responded sharply. Deciding that I had a lot to think about if I could ever get enough time without someone interrupting me, I proceeded to walk out the door…

Where I was met by a familiar sight of a dimmed out world and a translucent orange screen.

'Not again…'

Authors Note.

FIRST STORY! WOOOOOO!

This wasn't my first idea for a story, nor is it the most popular idea for one. This only dawned on me after I read Chibi-Reaper's and Majin Hentai X/Animaniac Dudes' versions and decided to make one for myself. I have no idea what the pairing is going to be (maybe NaruHina, but I have time, 'cause they're like frickin' 12), or where this is going to end up (an idea, yes, but I want to see if the story agrees), but I hope the ride is going to be fun! Also constructive criticism welcome, but trolls can stay under your bridges (No flames please). Also, this isn't the first version of the opening. I had another opening that was much longer but was confusing as hell and needed way too much explanation as it takes place during the 4th shinobi war, and apparently, that means that all levels of normalcy and logic can just be thrown to the wind. So I went with Naruto's death at the Valley of the End. It's simpler and SO much less of a headache. Don't forget to review guys.

Yours Truly,

10,000 Fists


	2. Tutorial Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or Fallout 3. They are the proper of Masashi Kishimoto, and Bethesda Softworks… I just wanna have fun!

_Last time on Naruto: Fractured Fate_

"_Naruto, the class is just down the hall. Now get going, you're late enough as it is." Iruka said seriously, not even bothering to look up from the paper he was reviewing._

"_Hai, Sensei" I responded sharply. Deciding that I had a lot to think about if I could ever get enough time without someone interrupting me, I proceeded to walk out the door…_

_Where I was met by a familiar sight of a dimmed out world and a translucent orange screen._

'_Not again…'_

_Present_

CONGRATULATIONS, AND WELCOME TO THE TUTORIAL OF NARUTO: FRACTURED FATE, THE GAME THAT PUTS YOU IN CONTROL OF THE DESTINY OF THE DESTINY CHILD. WHILE PLAYING AS EVERYONES FAVORITE JIINCHURIKI, IT CAN BE QUITE EASY TO BECOME LOST. SO,

And after reading that, the screen changed, illuminating now an orange building schematic of the academy, with a glowing blue arrow in a hallway, with various brown line segments scattered around it in a loose cluster as well as a gold line separated from that cluster. In the upper right hand corner of the schematic was a compass rose, and in the upper left hand corner of the schematic was a scale of inches on the map to yards in real life.

THIS IS YOUR MAP. THE BLUE ARROW INDICATES WHERE YOU ARE ON IT. THE BROWN LINE SEGMENTS REPRESENT NON-HOSTILES, GREEN LINES REPRESENT ALLIES, RED LINES REPRESENT HOSTILES, GOLD LINES REPRESENT MAIN QUEST RELATED SUBJECTS, AND PURPLE LINES INDICATE SIDE QUEST RELATED SUBJECTS.

TO REACH THIS SCREEN AGAIN, SIMPLY SAY 'MAP' AND IT WILL OPEN. TO CLOSE THE MAP, SIMPLY SAY 'CLOSE' OR 'EXIT'.

"Oh, fantastic, a tutorial to a game that is apparently my afterlife." I bit out sarcastically "You know, the way I had imagined it, after all the shit I have had to put up with over the years, after all the thousands of people I've saved, or that owe me their livelihood, after the COUNTRIES that have named me HERO, I would have thought I would have had dancing girls covered in ramen. WHERE ARE THE DANCING GIRLS COVERED IN RAMEN!? And to put the proverbial icing on the bullshit cake, I HAVE TO GO THROUGH PUBERTY AGAIN! WHAT THE FUCK KAMI?! IT'S ALL JUST A GAME ANYWAY, SO DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT?! IS THAT WHAT MY LIFE IS, A FUCKING GAME TO YOU? DO I EVEN FUCKING MATTER?!"

After a few more moments of screaming in pent up rage in frustration, my righteous anger was spent, dissolving into small hiccups. Hiccups, definitely not sobs, because it would be all unmanly. I sat down, vacantly staring up at the MAP. Lowering my head again, I gave a choked laugh.

"Hrgl-he-he, well I guess it might be like a second chance." Shaking my head, I let off another short laugh. "I'm not going to get anything done sitting here though, am I?" I finished redundantly to myself.

Standing up, I wiped my tears away with my dark blue shirt sleeve, and stared with renewed determination at the orange screen.

"No way out but forward. OK, Game On! Exit." The world resumed and I began to walk determinedly down the hallway… only to realize that I had forgotten where Suzume's class room was.

'Tch, what a pain. So I just say map? Let's try it.' "Map".

The increasingly familiar orange screen popped up, and I quickly glanced at it before tracing the hallways between myself and the golden line which was supposed to be where I was going.

'Ok, turn around, and 50 yards later it's on my right.' "Exit" Now confident in my knowledge on where to go, I began stride quickly towards my intended destination.

'All right, I have to figure out what is the same and what is different between this world/reality/thingy and my real life. Why the time skip at all? Why not… Is that a Ramen Bowl?'

Sure enough, there, sitting innocently on an innocuous teacher's desk in a deserted classroom sat a Ramen Bowl.

Narrowing my eyes, I snuck stealthily into the class room, closing the door behind me. Pausing for another breath while looking frantically around a final time, I approached the bowl. Peeking over the top, however, he found it was empty, with only the markings of a traditional Ichiraku's ramen bowl on the bottom, and CC engraved on the side of the bowl.

"Damn it! I thought someone had left ramen here. Who just leaves an empty bowl…?" I reached for the bowl, only for another orange screen to pop up.

Groaning in frustration, I looked up at the screen.

CONGRATULATIONS!

YOU HAVE FOUND ONE OF THE 20 LIMITED EDITION COLLECTABLE ICHIRAKU RAMEN BOWLS SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE GAME AND ARE AUTOMATICALLY DEPOSITEDN AND ARE AVAILABLE FOR DISPLAY AT YOUR HOME IN KONOHA. EACH RAMEN BOWL PERMANENTLY INCREASES ONE OF YOUR S.P.E.C.I.A.L. ATTRIBUTES BY 1 POINT, OR ONE OF THE 13 SKILLS IN THE GAME BY 10 POINTS. EACH BOWL CORRESPONDS TO A DIFFERENT SKILL OR S.P.E.C.I.A.L. ATTRIBUTE AND IS ONLY ADDED ONCE. FURTHEREMORE, SOME BOWLS MAY ONLY BE FOUND AT CERTAIN TIMES, AND MIGHT NOT BE AVAILABLE AGAIN AFTER CERTAIN MISSIONS HAVE PASSED OR EVENTS TRANSPIRED. SO STAY SHARP AND KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED FOR MORE RAMEN BOWLS!

'I just wanted ramen! I suppose a way to automatically make yourself better is nothing to scoff at, but don't tempt me with ramen and then give me something completely different.' I thought vehemently as I closed the screen.

CHAKRA CONTROL

'_ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT SUMMONING LIGHTNING IS BEING ABLE TO DIRECT IT'_

'I thought chakra control had to do with being able to direct your chakra for… Ohhh, it's a metaphor, it's like I'm aiming it.' I exited out of that screen as well before realizing where I was supposed to be.

'SHIT! I was already late when I left Iruka-sensei; I bet I'm super late now!' I thought as I threw the door to the classroom open and sprinted back on my way to Suzume's class, arriving but a moment later.

Flinging the door open I shouted, "Suzume-sensei, I'm sorry I'm late I…" Before trailing off realizing I had the attention of both the class and a now irate teacher.

"No Naruto, you're not late. We were just about to start. Come in and take your usual seat, quietly, and we can begin."

Thanking my good fortune, I made towards the back of the room.

"No Naruto," Suzume interrupted my search for a seat amidst giggling school children, "Your USUAL seat." She finished, pointing to a seat in the second row.

I nodded meekly and quickly made my way over to my newly found seat, and sat down.

"Now that we are all here and seated comfortably, we are going to review the concept of Chakra Control. Now, Hoshi, would you mind telling us, what is chakra?"

"Why am I expected to know something like that? Ask Sasuke or Shikamaru, they're the smart ones!" Whined the petulant student.

"Only because they are at least willing to **read** the text about the subject on which they will be tested, Hoshi!" Returned Suzume heatedly, "I can only wish you would do the same! It might have saved you from your current position of dead last in the class" Amidst the laughing of the students, Suzume called on Shikamaru to recite the definition while I was having my mind blown.

'I'm not the dead last here, and Hoshi is? That asshole just stole all my good pranks when I was still in school, but he was never a Dead-last. And why am I NOT dead-last? I was back in my old world. But that was back when I was universally regarded as a moron; here my intelligence is 6 points out of a possible 10. If it were a scale with one being the dumbest a person can be and 10 being the smartest, then that puts me at a little above average. Factoring that into class projections, we had a class of 27 and half of 27 is 13.5. Further extrapolating that a third of the class is girls based upon team makeup, who are graded on a different scale and on a few different subjects than boys, the remaining number of male students in the class whom I can be compared with is 18. Half of 18 is 9, and if I place a little above average that puts me somewhere in between 6th and 8th in the class. Of course all of this hinges on that Intelligence score being like a scale, and that 1 is the lowest a score can be and 10 is the highest a score can be. Further observation is warranted regarding this most interesting development.' Thinking back over my recent thought process to make sure I didn't mess up anywhere, I was stuck with a thought, 'Holy shit, I AM smarter!' and right after that I was struck with another thought, 'There go all your bragging rights, Sasuke-Teme, it's not gonna be Dobe this and Dobe that, and you're slowing me down so I'm going to run off with this pedophile because I'm a genius and you obviously wouldn't understand how it's a good idea. No, I'm gonna show you how I've improved and then-'

"UZUMAKI! PAY ATTENTION" Screamed Suzume.

"Hai, sensei." I said after making sure my heart wouldn't burst through my chest.

"Now as I'm sure you already know this, why would you be day dreaming otherwise? Please list the bones, wrist to fingertips in the human hand."

SKILL CHECK (MEDICINE 18/10): PASS! 25XP AWARDED

"Those would be Carpals, Metacarpals, and then Proximal, Intermediate and Distal Phalanges respectively." I responded automatically, pointing to each group of bones as I spoke their name.

'One more thing on the What-the-hell-just-happened-list. And what does xp stand for?'

"Next question Uzumaki," Suzume said her brow furrowing over her glasses, "How many Hokage have there been, and name one unique thing about them, and something important they have done."

SPECIAL CHECK (INTELLIGENCE 6/6) PASS 50XP AWARDED

"Those would be, in order, Hashirama Senju, the Shodaime Hokage, famous for his Mokuton techniques, he actually both helped found and create the village. Next is Tobirama Senju, the Nindaime Hokage, famous for his ability to create water techniques out of midair by utilizing the moisture in the atmosphere, he wrote the rules that govern shinobi even to this day. After that we have Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, called 'The Professor' (amongst other nicknames) for his mastery over every single type of shinobi combat, he has passed many political and economic reforms that have helped to make Konoha as wealthy and influential as it is today. Finally, we have the late Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, The Yellow Flash of Konoha was famous for almost single handedly winning every engagement he had fought in during the Third Great Shinobi War which includes battles where he slaughtered over 500 enemy ninja single handedly. His greatest achievement was stopping the Kyuubi before its rampage destroyed the village over 12 years ago."

'How do I know this stuff? Are those skill things affecting me like my Intelligence score has affected me?'

Suzume's eyebrows rose visibly over her glasses, before smirking.

"All right Naruto, final question. Name the three parts of an explosive tag and their purpose"

SKILL CHECK (FUUINJUTSU 28/20): PASS 100XP AWARDED

"The three parts of an explosive tag are the chakra containment seal, elemental conversion seal, and timer seal. The chakra containment seal holds true to its name holding a set amount of chakra. The elemental conversion seal takes that chakra and uses it to turn the air around the explosive tag into a large fireball. The timer seal contains the trigger that activates the explosive tag, and when activated, waits a pre-set period of time before triggering the elemental conversion seal."

'Wait why is that score so much higher than my other two? Does it have to do what the game, err Kami or whatever was writing about mom's family?'

"Good job, Naruto. That hits all the subjects we went over, except for Chakra control. So," Suzume said before pulling a leaf out from a drawer at her desk, "would you care to do the honors?"

'BALLS.' I thought as the bushy brunette closed in wielding the instrument of my doom, ' I was terrible at that stupid leaf exercise, then the kids, made fun of me for blowing up my leaf and…' I blinked

"Don't mind if I do." I said accepting the leaf from Suzume.

'That was a different life. I have to test my new limits and find the discrepancies in order to facilitate my transference to this weird bizzaro world.' Holding the leaf to my head, I began to mold chakra. 'Now concentrate, too much and it explodes, too little and it falls off.'

SKILL CHECK (CHAKRA CONTROL 13/10): PASS 25XP AWARDED

PERK GAINED: _STICK IT TO THE LEAF_

'What? A perk? What does it mean by-'I was abruptly cut off by the sounds of a large drum being beaten nearby 'What the hell is it NOW?'

LEVEL UP

…

'Huh?'

"Congratulations, Naruto, you must have really trained hard for that." Suzume said, snapping me back to the waking world.

"Yeah," I responded sheepishly, "something like that."

"Well, anyway class, that's all for this section of the review, next you're all off to Mizuki-Sensei, he's waiting at the obstacle course outside. If any of you wish to see your current position in the class, it's up on the board behind me. Well? Go on, off with you!" As the class started to get to their feet, Suzume called out over the din over the chattering boys, "UZUMAKI-SAN PLEASE STAY BEHIND FOR A MOMENT"

I looked up confusedly, 'What does she want now? I need to figure out more about this game thing.'

With the last dregs of the class going on route to the next part of the exam review. Suzume approached me.

"I can tell you I am very pleased to see how you've improved during your tenure, and I want to say two things to you. First, don't day dream; remember the shinobi saying, "A dreamy day takes your life away. Daydreaming is for civilians and days off, because it gets you killed in the field." I stared down at my feet abashedly. "And second, the reward for completing the challenge of successfully answering all my questions today. If you were paying attention, you would have noticed the other genin candidates perking up, or me _actually_ talking about it." I glanced up shocked at the smirking Suzume holding what looked like 5 wafer thin slips of paper. 5 exploding tags.

"You can be a great ninja one day, and I have a feeling that day can be pretty soon so long as you don't do something stupid. So unless you somehow absolutely fail, consider this like a happy graduation gift."

I was still in shock at the whole concept of a graduation gift. Here I was, a child whose very existence was the scorn of a village, who had to settle for people not physically abusing me or screaming death threats in the street, who had never heard the words 'I Love You' spoken to me by another human being in my entire life. The simple idea that someone, a teacher that I barely knew, would give me a gift for something as simple as graduation astounded me. Gradually pulling myself out of the comparison between what were quickly becoming my past life and my present, I spoke the simplest, most honest, most sincere words that I could think of.

"Thank you, Sensei." I said, swallowing thickly, "Thank you very much!"

"Don't thank me that much, they're just explosive tags." Either unaware of the emotions running through me at this time or simply ignoring them, Suzume glanced up at the clock before she turned to face me again. "I think I've kept you long enough, Mizuki-sensei will be waiting for you."

When I didn't move Suzume spoke again "Well go on, get going. And good luck on the test tomorrow."

I nodded sharply in thanks as I headed for the door before stopping and going back to the black board, checking my theory from earlier. Scanning from the top for my name, I only had to go six places. Another smile graced my face. '6th in the class' sounded a whole lot better than dead last. Continuing on my way, I stepped back into the hallway. Honestly, I wasn't all that surprised when the world dulled out and an orange screen popped up.

The fanfare did catch me off guard though.

LEVEL UP

WHEN LEVELING UP YOUR CHARACTER YOU HAVE A SELECT NUMBER OF SKILL POINTS DEPENDING UPON YOUR INTELLIGENCE SCORE. THESE POINTS ARE DISTRIBUTED AS YOU SEE FIT ACROSS YOUR 13 SKILLS. AFTER LEVELING UP YOUR SKILLS, YOU CAN MOVE ONTO PERKS. EVERY LEVEL YOU RECEIVE ONE PERK POINT TO BE SPENT ON AN AVAILABLE PERK.

'But what do the perks do?' I thought shaking my head in bemusement.

LEVEL UP

16 SKILL POINTS REMAINING

BUUKIJUTSU, MELEE- -25+

BUUKIJUTSU, RANGED- -21+

BARTER – -17+

CHAKRA CONTROL- -18+

FUUINJUTSU- -28+

GENJUTSU- -12+

LOCKPICKING – -12+

MEDICINE- -18+

NINJUTSU- -24+

SMITHING- -25+

STEALTH- -21+

SPEECH – -12+

TAIJUTSU- -24+

FINISH

'Ok, so it's like that S.P.E.C.I.A.L. thing. Distributing the points makes me better or more knowledgeable in each subject that I put points into. I know or can do the most with Fuuinjutsu right now, because it's my highest skill. And vice versa with Genjutsu, I guess.' Relieved that I had figured out how skill points worked, at least partially, I immediately saw another problem.

'Hey wait, that skill check thing said my control was at 13, so why is it 18 now? Does it have to do with that perk thing with the leaf earlier?' Shaking my head to clear the errant thoughts running through it, I redoubled my focus on the problem at hand.

'All right, so I have skill points to burn and I need somewhere to put them.' I carefully weighed each skill going down the list, deciding which skills I needed now and which I could wait on. 'My weapon handling is one of my strongest skills, so skip that. I don't really need to barter goods right now; I just buy ramen, kunai, and sewing kits for my ripped clothing. Chakra Control is IMPORTANT, so I need to drop some there. Genjutsu I don't really use, Lockpicking I NEVER use, Medicine isn't really that important because I heal so fast anyway (or at least I should since the game said I am still a jiinchuriki for Kyuubi). Ninjutsu should be important, but the only technique I learn for a while is Kage Bunshin and not anything else for like 6 or 7 months, so unless I'm making my own Ninjutsu, that won't really help. Smithing I guess would be like making my own weapons and stuff, but I think I'll just buy those for now. Stealth might be useful, so maybe, Speech, also maybe, and Taijutsu is a definitely. So I NEED Taijutsu and Chakra control, and I should get Ninjutsu, Stealth and Speech.' Pausing a moment to figure out which points would go where, I began to dole out the points.

'I'll put 7 on Chakra Control to bring it up to 25, 3 on Ninjutsu and Taijutsu to bring those up as welll, and I'll put the rest on Stealth.' Satisfied with my work, I hit the 'FINISH' button at the bottom.

BUUKIJUTSU, MELEE- -25+

BUUKIJUTSU, RANGED- -21+

BARTER – -17+

CHAKRA CONTROL- -25+

FUUINJUTSU- -28+

GENJUTSU- -12+

LOCKPICKING – -12+

MEDICINE- -18+

NINJUTSU- -27+

SMITHING- -25+

STEALTH- -24+

SPEECH – -12+

TAIJUTSU- -27+

ARE YOU SURE YOU WISH TO FINISH?

YES NO

I pressed 'YES' lazily. 'Now what was all that stuff about Perks'

1 PERK REMAING

**Lady Killer**

Level Requirement 2

1 Rank

+10% damage to the opposite sex, and unique dialogue options with certain characters

**Book Smart**

Level Requirement 2

IN 4

3 Ranks

+5 Fuuinjutsu, +5 Medicine

**Swift Learner**

Level Requirement 2

IN 4

3 Ranks

+10% XP whenever XP is earned

**Intense Training**

Level Requirement 2

10 Ranks

+1 to any SPECIAL stat

'So each of these is a permanent addition? Let's try knocking them off then, one at a time. Lady Killer sounds like something Ero-Sennin would get, so no, thank you. Moving on, Fuuinjutsu and Medicine I don't really use, so no to Book Smart either.' Squinting at the two remaining Perks, I weighed them back and forth in my head. 'It comes down to whether I want more power/speed/intelligence now or later when I level up faster.'

I smirked, thinking of the recent changes my improved Intelligence had wrought upon my life. 'Maybe I should go with more Intelligence; it's done nothing but good things so far. And I just leveled up and I haven't even completed the _review_ for the academy exam, so leveling up can't be that hard, and if it is I can always pick it later.' I nodded, my decision made.

YOU HAVE SELECTED 'INTENSE TRAINING', ARE YOU SURE?

YES NO

'Why does it always ask that same question?' I thought before hitting the 'YES' button another time.

1 POINT REMAINING

STRENGTH -7+

PERCEPTION -3+

ENDURANCE -9+

CHARISMA -3+

INTELLIGENCE -6+

AGILITY -5+

LUCK -7+

FINISH

I selected Intelligence bringing my score up to a seven, and quickly hit yes when the annoying sign came up again.

Feeling a pleasant buzz go through my mind head, I took a moment to orient myself with my current objectives.

'Ok, I've got to go to the obstacle course. Let's go! MAP!'

I jogged through the halls, in no real rush to see a man who had once tried to kill me.

'Although,' I thought 'Everything is so much different now, maybe he actually likes me here, like-PERSON'

Leaping to the side to avoid an imminent collision with a fellow student, I muttered out a few choice curse words.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!"

"SORRY!" I shouted back over my shoulder, in no mood to have more of a conversation with the now irate student.

'I have to be more aware of things around me' I thought cursing to myself. 'Stupid low Perception score!'

Refocusing on my surroundings I saw a door on my right up ahead 'Now it's just a right here, and then outside to the school grounds.'

Going through the door, I was temporarily blinded by the sun's rays. Blinking to bring back my vision, I saw the rest of my class already standing at the start of the obstacle course with my potentially murderous instructor. As I made my way over, I saw Mizuki look up at me from the front of the class and smile.

"Thank you for joining us Naruto. Right, now that we are all here, welcome to the obstacle course! The objective here is to go through as fast as possible. When I call your name you come stand here" at this Mizuki pointed to a spot to his left, and wait till I tell you to go. Go through as fast as possible, when you come out here," Mizuki pointed to his right this time, "I stop the clock and your run is over. I'll mark all of your times up on the paper on the wall behind me. Now would you mind starting us off, Aburame-san?"

Shino nodded coolly, and took the starting position.

"GO" Mizuki shouted, starting the timer as he did. Shino was off down the tunnel to the first leg of the course.

Waiting patiently for my turn I closed my eyes and began to think about all that had been happening to me. The death, discovering I was in a game world, creating my character and inadvertently changing the way I thought and acted, how either the game or my newfound smarts changed the way people acted around me, how it had changed the fact that I had not been hit in the head by Sakura for an entire day! Looking around briefly for the target of my affections, I couldn't find her immediately. Frowning, I realized I couldn't see any of the girls in my class. I turned to the nearest student and asked him why there were no girls with us.

"Baka," he responded shaking his head, "They're all off doing those kunoichi lessons, like flowing arranging and whatever."

Shrugging off his response, I went back to patiently waiting for my turn. Moments later, my waiting was over.

"Uzumaki, you're up." Breaking out of my reverie, I went over to the starting position.

"GO"

I took off as fast as I could, rounding the first corner at top speed with a little difficulty. A log is placed in the middle of the path with a trench to either side, so I run over the log and move on around the corner. Next in the obstacle course is a10 foot high wooden wall with a rope hanging down from it. Grabbing the rope I scale the wall with some difficulty and jump down from the top. I stumble a little as I land, but I quickly right myself and move around the corner to the next challenge. The next challenge was an open hole in the ground about fifteen feet across, with a rope swinging back and forth above it. 'Time it so that the rope is in the middle when I run towards it' I thought before sprinting as hard as I could, my timing was a little off however, and I barely grabbed the rope in time to avoid a face full of mud. Landing precariously on the other side, I run as quickly as I can around the next corner ready for the next challenge. I was rather surprised however, when the next challenge involved heavy sand bags swinging back and forth over a 20 foot long wooden post suspended five feet above the ground by ropes tied at either end, with another pit below it. Gulping, I climbed up on the started across the newest challenge, taking care to time my steps to avoid the first bag. Rushing my steps, I found myself clipped by the next bag, I cartwheeled my arms to maintain my balance, barely righting myself in time to avoid another blow. Jumping off the end of the 'bridge', I continue on rounding the next corner. The next challenge came in the form of a pit (I sighed at this), filled with two rows of wooden posts, five post. With the pit only being 20 feet long it was an easy four foot jump from one to the other. Landing on the other side, I rounded the second left turn in the course.

"And time!" Mizuki said loudly, "that's the best time you've done all year."

Writing the time up on the sheet behind him, Mizuki called the last person over to begin their run.

Glancing at the sheet, I compared my time with everyone else's.

It looked like I took… 5th. I nodded, pleased with myself. The only two names I saw above mine that I recognized were Sasuke-teme, and Kiba. Nodding to myself once again, I turned my head when I heard Mizuki say "Time."

"All right guys, that's it, next you're off to see Daikoku for Target Practice. If you need to check your time, it's on the wall behind me. OK, get out of here." Mizuki finished laughing. I waited for a minute, to see if Mizuki would talk to me like Suzume did. After having the entire class clear out, though, with Mizuki still leaning on a conveniently placed wall, I decided to head to the next part of the review.

A quick call of "MAP" and I saw that I had to go. Skirting around the outside of the building, I saw the target dummies set up with the class gathered around them. Jogging over, I saw a large man wearing a Chunin vest, a forehead protector covering the top part of his head and hair, and sporting a goatee like beard, wave his arms and call for silence.

"Time for the next part of the review, students, so gather round. Now I am Daikoku, and I'll be monitoring your throwing and accuracy today. Now as I will be calling you five at a time in reverse alphabetical order. Please come forward as I call you, and accept the kunai and shuriken that I give. Then, you will spread yourselves out amongst the five training dummies that we have set up and throw when I give the signal, you will be scored by the number of hits on the dummy out of the total number that you are given. Stand before your dummy until I come over, grade, and dismiss you towards the next part of the review. Now, would Yamamato, Uzumaki, Uruke, Uchiha, and Takabe, please step forward."

I went up to the teacher, accepting my 5 shuriken and 5 kunai, before walking to the second to last target dummy. Preparing myself to throw, I stopped as the world took on a familiar dull tone. A new screen popped up before me. This one had the words 'Weapons', 'Apparel', 'Aid', 'Misc.', and 'Quest', written across the top on five different tabs, with the 'Weapons tab presently highlighted. Underneath this, was a column to the left, with the words 'Kunai X5', 'Shuriken X5' and 'Explosive tag, X5', with Kunai having a glowing orange box next to its name. Below the tabs and on the right was a large picture of a Kunai, below that was a row with three boxes in it. In each box, left to right, were the letters DAM 3, WG -, and VAL 10. Below those was another, larger box, which read simply, D-Rank.

Another screen appeared, overlapping the one presently up.

THIS IS YOUR INVENTORY. A PLAYERS INVENTORY IS BROKEN DOWN INTO 5 CATEGORIES. THEY ARE WEAPONS, APPAREL, AID, MISCELLAINIOUS, AND QUEST. MOVE YOUR HAND OVER ANY OBJECT TO HIGHLIGHT IT AND BRING UP ITS STATISTICS AND DESCRIPTION.

THE WEAPONS TAB SHOWS ALL THE WEAPONS IN YOUR INVENTORY, A PICTURE OF EACH WEAPON ON THE RIGHT, ALONG WITH A LISTING OF ITS DAMAGE (DAM), WEIGHT (WG) AND ITS VALUE (VAL). IN THE BOX BELOW THESE, THE RANK OF THE WEAPON IS SHOWN, AND ANY SPECIAL EFFECTS THE WEAPON MIGHT HAVE, IS SHOWN. THE KUNAI CURRENTLY SELECTED ARE D RANK, WHICH MEANS THAT THEY CAN BE IMPROVED AT ANY FORGE WITH THE RIGHT MATERIALS AND PROPER KNOWLEDGE. THE LOWEST RANK A WEAPON CAN BE IS E RANK, AND THE HIGHEST IS S RANK.

Closing the window, I saw the screen behind it had changed, now sporting 'Apparel' on the tab, which was presently highlighted. Now in the left hand column were 'Goggles', 'Black Shinobi Shirt', 'Blue Shinobi Pants', 'Black Shinobi Sandals'. Another thing that was different was that all but Goggles had an orange square. 'Obviously,' I thought, 'if the square indicates equipped, of course I would be wearing pants and stuff. But why am I NOT wearing the goggles? And why don't I have any orange on? Is this another one of those things that was changed by my intelligence score?' Another thing I notice was different was that the box formerly labeled DAM was now DR.

Another window overlapped the Apparel screen.

THE APPARELS TAB SHOWS ALL CLOTHING AND ARMOR THAT YOU HAVE ACCUMULATED. THE COLUMN ON THE LEFT SHOWS ALL THE CLOTHING/ARMOR IN YOUR INVENTORY, A PICTURE OF EACH ITEM ON THE RIGHT, ALONG WITH A LISTING OF ITS DAMAGE RESISTANCE (DR), WEIGHT (WG) AND ITS VALUE (VAL). IN THE BOX BELOW THESE, THE RANK OF THE ITEM, AND ANY SPECIAL EFFECTS THE ITEM MIGHT HAVE, IS SHOWN.

I nodded absently closing that window and turning to the next. Opening the Aid tab I saw… nothing. There was nothing there at all.

THE AID TAB SHOWS ALL FOOD, DRINK, MEDICINAL ITEMS, JUTSU SCROLLS AND SKILL BOOKS THAT YOU HAVE ON YOUR PERSON.

'Skill books? Jutsu scrolls?' I thought, closing the window. 'Are those like the Ramen Bowls? Or do they actually teach me jutsu?'

Going to the Misc. tab, I saw nothing again.

THE MISCELLANIOUS TAB IS WHERE ALL OF THE ITEMS USED IN CRAFTING ARE KEPT, ALONG WITH ALL OF THE ITEMS THAT YOU EITHER CANNOT USE, OR AREN'T PART OF A QUEST.

'So it's where all the junk I pick up goes', rolling my eyes as I closed another window. Opening the Quest tab, I was once again disappointed when nothing presented itself.

THE QUEST TAB IS WHERE ALL QUEST RELATED ITEMS ARE KEPT. THESE ITEMS CANOT BE DESTROYED, DROPPED, OR EQUIPPED, AND CAN ONLY BE GOTTEN RID OF WHEN AN ITEM'S QUEST IS COMPLETED.

'So it's an IMPORTANT junk page then.' I thought sarcastically before exiting both windows. 'And here I thought putting on clothes would never be this difficult.'

"READY!" shouted the Chunin, snapping me out of my reverie quickly. Pulling out my equipped weapon, I readied myself to throw.

"THROW!"

SKILL CHECK (BUKIJUTSU, RANGED 20/20): PASS 100 XP AWARDED

Moving automatically, I threw all of my kunai and shuriken at the target, and all of my kunai and shuriken flew directly into the dummy's torso, hitting inside the circle placed there.

"All right, now stay still while I grade you. Uchiha, perfect score of course, Yamamato, 6 out of 10 isn't bad in most lines of work but you will need to improve greatly to be a true ninja, Uruke, 7 out of 10 is decent, Uzumaki, Perfect score" he said with raised eye brows, "you've improved, well done, and Takabe, 3 out of 10 is a failing grade." He stopped walking the breadth of the field and turned to look at us 5 again. "You 5 can beat it, head to Iruka's classroom for the next part of the exam review."

Turning back to the main building, I only barely caught Sasuke looking at me from the corner of my eye. Turning my head round to face him, he quickly looked away. Sasuke quickly walked back to the academy doors, slamming them behind him. I frowned.

'What was THAT about?' Shaking it off, I started walking back to the academy before remembering that I wanted to put on my infamous goggles. Going to the Apparel page in my Inventory, I highlighted the Goggles in question and was about to equip them when something curious caught my eye.

'What does HUD mean?'

Equipping my goggles, I felt them fit snugly into place. Closing the Inventory, I saw the world dim once again.

THE HUD, OR HEADS UP DISPLAY, IS AVAILABLE WHEN CERTAIN ITEMS IN THE GAMES ARE EQUIPPED, SUCH AS NARUTO'S GOGGLES OR TOBIRAMA'S BATTLE HELM. IT DISPLAYS WHAT WEAPON YOU CURRENTLY HAVE EQUIPPED AND A RUDIMENTARY MAP IN THE LOWER RIGHT HAND CORNER OF YOUR VISION, CONTAINING THE DIRECTION YOU ARE FACING, NEARBY ALLIES/NON-HOSTILES/HOSTILES, AND THE DIRECTION OF THE PRESENT QUESTS OBJECTIVE. IN THE LOWER LEFT HAND CORNER ARE YOUR HEALTH (RED) AND CHAKRA (BLUE) BARS. THESE ARE INDICATIVE OF YOUR REMAINING HEALTH AND CHAKRA. IF YOUR HEALTH HITS ZERO WHILE NOT ON A MISSION, YOU ARE INSTANTLY TRANSPORTED TO THE KONOHA HOSPITAL, WITH YOUR HEALTH AND CHAKRA FULLY RESTORED, AT THE COST OF 100 EXPERIENCE POINTS MULTIPLIED BY YOUR LEVEL BEFORE YOU WERE TRANSPORTED. WHEN IN COMBAT YOUR ENEMY'S NAME AND HEALTH WILL BE DISPLAYED AT THE TOP CENTER OF THE SCREEN, THEIR CHAKRA, HOWEVER, WILL NOT BE SHOWN.

'Why didn't I have this equipped in the first place if it's that awesome? Maybe so I could take my adaptation to a game world at a more gradual pace?' Shaking my head, I exited the window and followed the golden indicator on my mini map.

Iruka-sensei here I come.

Showing up to the class moments later, I strode through the door and immediately saw Sakura-chan and Ino squabbling over Sasuke-teme. 'So the girls are joining us for this part?' I thought. 'So is this the last part of the review or something?'

"Naruto" Iruka said.

"Hai, sensei?" I responded.

"You left these in the classroom yesterday, and I thought you might need them for the jutsu part of the review, being now." Iruka said with a smile, handing me three worn looking scrolls.

"Arigato, sensei." I smiled back.

Going to what I was told by Suzume-sensei was my usual seat; I decided to have a look at what the scrolls contained… Before realizing I wasn't holding them anymore.

'Right' I thought slapping my forehead. 'This is a game world.'

"Inventory" I said aloud.

Going through my Inventory I found the three scrolls in the previously vacant aid page. The contents were labeled 'Ninjutsu Scroll: Replacement', 'Ninjutsu Scroll: Transformation', and 'Ninjutsu Scroll: Clone'. Highlighting the Kawarimi, I small description of it in the lower right hand box, below the image of the scroll. Between the description and the picture of a scroll was another box, that read 'Requirements: Chakra Control 10', checking the other two, I saw they had similar requirements, but had the requirement be 5 and 15 on Chakra Control respectively. 'Using' the first scroll, I saw another popup accompanied by a short drumming solo.

LEARNED KAWARIMI NO JUTSU

'Cool! Just use a jutsu scroll and you know the jutsu? THAT'S SO MUCH EASIER!'

Quickly learning the other two jutsu, I exited the Inventory, and ran into another screen.

This one, however, only had three tabs labeled 'Ninjutsu', 'Genjutsu', 'Medical Jutsu' and 'Fuuinjutsu'.

THE JUTSU PAGE IS DIVIDED UP INTO FOUR CATEGORIES, NINJUTSU, MEDICAL JUTSU, GENJUTSU, AND FUUINJUTSU. IN EACH TAB, YOU WILL SEE ALL OF THE NINJUTSU/MEDICAL JUTSU/GENJUTSU/FUUINJUTSU YOU HAVE LEARNED OVER THE COURSE OF YOUR GAME, ALONG WITH A DESCRIPTION OF WHAT THEY DO, HOW MUCH DAMAGE (IF ANY) THEY DO, AND HOW MUCH CHAKRA THEY COST. WITH FUUINJUTSU, HOWEVER, YOU CANNOT CAST THEM WITHOUT THE 'SEALESS SEALS' PERK. YOU ARE ABLE TO MAKE THEM WITH THE USE OF SEALING PAPER AND CHAKRA INK, AVAILABLE AT STORES IN KONOHA AND AROUND FIRE COUNTRY.

Scanning quickly through the contents of the Ninjutsu page, I was pretty depressed that Kage Bunshin and Rasengan didn't make an appearance.

'My two most awesome techniques and I have to learn them all over again.' I thought, pouting. Squinting my eyes and smiling, I had another thought altogether, 'I still get to learn them both, and doing so will be much easier this time around.' Giving a cursory glance over the contents of the other three tabs I found nothing, and so I exited out of the Jutsu menu.

I then spent the next few minutes waiting for the rest of the guys from weapons training to show up. After an agonizing 10 minutes of sitting, the last person finally deigned to enter the classroom.

"Now begins the Ninjutsu portion of the exam review." Iruka said, moving to sit at the desk in front of the room. Mizuki, who must have entered the room in the last ten minutes, moved to sit beside him.

"Now we are going to go over all three Ninjutsu we've learned in the class, that's the Clone, Transformation, and Replacement techniques. After that I have some things to announce and then we can all go home." A breath of relief escaped from the students at the welcome news.

"First things first though, everyone line up at the front of the room."

Making my way down, I took a spot within the first third of the line. Waiting for my turn with a confidence I would have never had thought to have when combating the original clone technique, I began to look at the students around me, Shino stoically forming the handsigns for the clone technique, with Sakura right behind him and Sasuke behind her, then Ino, several other girls I didn't really recognize, including one girl with purple hair that had only one bang. Then there was Kiba next to me, Chouji and Shika on the other side of me, and behind them were a few more people I didn't really know or remember, then there was Hinata, in the back third of the line. Scanning my eyes down the row, I saw pale eyes staring at me. Glancing back to those eyes, I saw Hinata looking down and blushing, doing that weird finger pointy thing again. I shook my head, thinking about the conundrum that was Hinata.

Sometimes she would be awesome and outgoing and willful, like in the Chunin exams when she was facing Neji. She stood her ground and said to him that she wouldn't back down. That it was her nindo NEVER to back down. I looked at the goose bumps I got when remembering the sheer level of Awesome that she had exhibited in that match. Before that, virtually nothing but blushes stutters and faints. After that I really didn't see all that much of her, except for when I talked to her about how to beat Neji. Even then she had seemed…withdrawn. Retreating back into her proverbial shell of stutters and blushes. Where had gone that fire, that steel that inspired him to do better, to be stronger even now? And even when she had talked to him she was hiding behind a post. Was she afraid of him? 'Let's think this through logically. Whenever she sees me, she blushes. What does blushing indicate?' Reaching for my newly acquired medial knowledge, an answer came easily. "Blushing is due to increased blood flow throughout the body, which is itself caused by a change in heart rate. One thing is most well known to cause heavy blushing that can be triggered repeatedly without causing undue harm to the human body. Adrenaline. The question now becomes what triggers adrenaline without heavy exertion. The answer is three fold, fear, rage, and arousal. Time to whittle the list down. We were twelve, so no way she was thinking THAT way, especially not often enough that she did it every time I looked at her (but girls do develop earlier than boys so I guess it is conceivable, if unlikely). Rage, is immediately ruled out, because if she hated me THAT much she wouldn't keep the same nindo as me, or talk to me or call me Naruto-kun, so rage is a no. There remains the most likely probability, fear. Neji said he could see the chakra inside of me (Nothing can hide from these eyes or some such). So if she routinely used the Byakugan, or had used it once and always remembered it, than fear was totally believable and understandable. If I had to look at Fuzz-butt every day I would probably be a bit more timid too. Fear also matches the rest of her behavior, the finger twiddling being a nervous tick, hiding her body to protect herself, and the fainting… I couldn't really explain the fainting with fear. Maybe I need higher medical knowledge.' Rubbing my head with my palms another errant thought crossed my mind, and though I didn't know it, it would be the first of a great many times it did. 'Girls are confusing, and weird.'

Looking to see how many people were in front of me, eyes started to dart to the left-

"NARUTO!"

"GAHHHH!" I shouted, clutching at my poor abused heart.

"Welcome back to Fire Country! How was your trip?" Iruka remarked sarcastically.

"Am I up?" I asked, ignoring his questions.

"I certainly hope so, because I have no idea how you could still be asleep and talking to me." He quipped before sighing exasperatedly, "Yes, you're up. Now show us the clone technique."

Nodding, I quickly ran through the hand seals, shouting "Bunshin No Jutsu!" as I finished.

Immediately around me, three perfectly healthy, normal clones appeared.

Iruka nodded, impressed. "Well done Naruto, now the Transformation."

Running through the hand seals, I let out a "Henge!" Before transforming into a flawless and pleased looking Iruka.

"All right, and finally, do the Replacement. Use the bucket in the corner"

Quickly transporting myself over and back got me a mark of congratulations from Iruka, before he told me to sit back down.

Resting my head a moment, I realized that the entire time I did those techniques; a dent had not even been made on my chakra reserves. I smiled to myself. 'There really is something to this whole Chakra Control thing, huh?'

Waiting until the rest of the students had finished their techniques, Iruka stood in front of the class.

"Tomorrow may be the last day many of you step foot in here as civilians, as academy students, even as children. Tomorrow is the final examination; and only two parts of the review from today will actually take place tomorrow. That means you might be ordered to do anything from a sparring tournament, to a recounting of the number, names, and position of bones in the human skeletal structure, so be prepared for anything you faced today and more. Those of you who did well today, good job, sleep well, and know that victory is practically assured. Those of you, who didn't do so well today, study hard and ask your sensei's to help you where you need help. Those of you who failed today, you shouldn't get your hopes high for tomorrow. The two last things I have to say before I let you all go for the day, is that no matter what happens tomorrow, or in the weeks ahead, I was proud to have you all as my students." Iruka finished grandly.

After a speech like that, I had no idea how he was going to follow it.

"You all also need to fill out this form and hand it in tomorrow, so that the Jonin instructors will know something about you before they pick you, SHOULD you actually pass tomorrow."

After his speech that was kinda a letdown, but it was almost impossible to upstage a speech like that without jumping into a volcano to battle a death god that was bent on world destruction.

Remembering that was more or less what the Yondaime had actually done, I felt the stirrings of the fan boy part deep inside of me.

Shaking my head, I got up from my desk, and approached Iruka. Taking a sheet of the form I had to fill out, I said to Iruka, "Well I'll see you tomorrow sensei."

Iruka smirked an evil smirk "Ohhh? You mean that you don't want me to watch you clean all that paint that you splashed all over the Hokage Monument earlier today?"

DAMNIT! I forgot about that!

Iruka started to laugh, "No, Naruto, you're not leaving quite yet."

I groaned to myself, 'What a terrible end to an otherwise awesome day.'

Authors Note:

Sorry about the lines everywhere, my computer had a glitch and I couldn't get rid of them. But in my personal opinion, best chapter so far. I'm a lot of fun writing this, and I HOPE you're enjoying reading this. But to answer some questions, Yes, there will eventually be gruesome violence, No, no sex with main character (until much, MUCH later, maybe), but I will be adding romance. It'll be slow going though, bear with me. It might take a little while with the future chapters, I 'm having some difficulty with team selections.

Sincerely,

10,000 Fists


	3. Tutorial Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or Fallout 3. They are the proper of Masashi Kishimoto and Bethesda Softworks respectively… I just wanna have fun!

_Last time on Game on._

_Iruka laughed "No Naruto, you're not leaving quite yet."_

_I groaned to myself 'What a terrible end to an otherwise awesome day.'_

Present

Grumbling to myself again, I rubbed my hands, still sore from the intensive workout they had received. 'Why did I have to put it EVERYWHERE? How did I even get to those places? I can't tree walk yet!'

Shaking myself out of my funk, I followed Iruka-sensei as we walked (shambled in my case, I am EXHAUSTED) towards the Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. We walked in silence for most of the way, down past shops closing down for the day. Taking note of my brooding silence however, Iruka scoffed, rolling his eyes, "Come on, it wasn't THAT bad"

"You didn't have to clean it all up!" I pointed out sourly.

"I also didn't paint it all over the Hokage Monument in the first place," Iruka retorted while scanning my face, trying to see what was really wrong. The futile search attempt ended a moment later when Iruka sighed loudly.

"Ok Naruto, what's up?"

"Hmm?" I responded intelligently.

"You've been acting weird this whole walk back, and now you didn't even notice that Ichiraku's in sight."

I blinked, looking up to confirm that yes, in fact, Ichiraku's was right there. Iruka looked at me patiently. Sighing, I turned to face him.

"Iruka-sensei, ummm… you know… stuff. About girls, right?" I began awkwardly. Embroiled in my own embarrassment, I missed Iruka's eyes widening and his choked statement of "Oh kami…"

Scratching the back of my head, I waited for Iruka's reply. Gathering himself, Iruka straightened his Chunin vest before responding.

"Let's wait to get some food before we talk about this, ok?"

I nodded weakly before allowing myself to be led to a stool.

"Welcome back Naruto-kun, Umino-san!" Teuchi greeted us cordially. "What can I get for the two of you today?"

"Three bowls of Pork flavored ramen to start, Teuchi-jiji!" I said, showing a bit more of my usual vigor.

"One for me as well, Teuchi." Iruka said amiably. Once Teuchi was off cooking the meal to come, Iruka turned back to me, "So what brings up the subject of girls, Naruto?"

Gulping loudly, I thought back to my previous train of thought concerning Hinata and why she blushed, hid, and fainted. My confused answer of either she liked me or lived in constant fear of the Kyuubi and tried to maintain something resembling bland acquaintanceship or mild friendship at its best. But if she was so afraid of the Kyuubi, why would sh-

"Naruto, you're spacing out again." Iruka said, taking off his forehead protector to rub his brow with the palm of his hand.

"Sorry sensei, I was just thinking."

"Yes, I notice you do that a lot lately, enough to miss out on your name being called in class," I had the grace to look abashed when he said that. "And to not notice that your noodles are getting cold."

Cursing myself I broke my chopsticks with a hurried "Itadakimasu" And plunged into my now lukewarm noodles. Iruka chuckled at the ferocity with which I attacked my food. Waiting until my first bowl was decimated, Iruka interjected when I reached for my second bowl.

"Naruto, you're the one who brought up Girls. What, or who, is it that you wanted to talk about?"

Pushing my second bowl away from me to remove temptress of noodle and broth, I turned to Iruka.

"Breaking hearts already, Naruto?" Teuchi replied jokingly, shaking his head in a patronizing manner. "And you used to be such a nice boy too."

"Teuchi-jiji…" I groaned, exasperated.

"Now come on Naruto, you wanted to talk about girls." Iruka said, failing to hide a small smile. Sighing, I gathered my courage.

"Sensei," I began, "do you know what it means when a girl hides from you and gets really nervous when she's near you?"

Iruka paused at this, cupping his chin with his left hand in a 'Thinking' pose. After a moment he nodded, and turned back to me.

"What else does she do?" he said.

"Well," Thinking back to all the times Hinata and I had been together, I started to list off symptoms. "She faints, gets all red in the face, has a nervous tic where she twiddles her fingers, and on top of all that she has a stutter every time she talks to me."

Iruka had a grin that was slowly stretching across his face. Looking at Teuchi-jiji, for an explanation, he just looked at me with a knowing grin. Whipping my head back and forth, I couldn't help but let out a not at all whiny sounding shout of "What is going on?"

Iruka shook his head trying, and failing to suppress his grin, Iruka rubbed my head in an affectionate and patronizing manner.

"Well what do you know; you ARE breaking hearts after all."

Despite knowing exactly what he meant, I couldn't help but ask what he meant.

"Naruto, barring giggling at everything you say as if it was the most hilarious thing in all of comedy, constantly finding excuses to touch you, giving you gifts, baking things for you, and actually straight out telling you she likes you, those all came from the list of things girls do to or around boys the like a lot." Iruka finished, before looking at my widening as I realized that Hinata had offered me foods and gifts.

"ANNNNnnnnd the truth dawns" Iruka drawled before taking a large bite of noodles.

"NO! No that can't be right." I said, unable to even conceive the idea that Hinata liked me that much.

"No, he's right, Naruto-kun." Teuchi said, nodding sagely.

"No! But…I mean, she can't…"

"Oh she can," Teuchi said "and sounds like she does like you, and likes you quite a lot at that."

I was shocked. I mean, sure, I had considered the possibility that she liked me. It was vaguely possible, and all, but… actually knowing someone Like likes me.

"But, I mean, WHY?" I finally responded, still sputtering.

"Why don't you ask her?" Sensei said, a small smile still quirking his lips upward.

"I CAN'T DO THAT!" I responded immediately, cheeks growing bright red in embarrassment.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Well, I mean because… I just can't OK?"

Iruka sighed, pushing away his ramen bowl while Teuchi continued to snicker over a pot of noodles.

"Look, Naruto. You are about to be a genin, what you should be focusing on isn't girls, it's improving yourself so that you survive out there in the field." Iruka said definitively, pointing out towards the horizon as he finished. Nodding sheepishly, I was honestly glad that the conversation was turning to a less confusing direction. Jutsu I knew about, but apparently girls are a whole other bag of problems.

"But…"

Oh dear kami!

"If you are seriously thinking about asking this girl if she likes you, first consider whether you like her."

"Like, LIKE like her, or just as a friend?" I asked inquisitively, eager for even meager advice.

"Whichever. In a relationship, the feelings of both people are important. Now I'm not saying you are dating," Iruka said, trying to alleviate my glowing red blush. "But if you are going to pursue a friendship, or any other type of relationship, then there are certain rules that you need to adhere to. Communication about feelings for each other is the most general and crucial of those rules."  
I blinked

"Wow sensei, you know a lot about relationships. How many have you been in?"

At this point Iruka rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I really haven't been in a lot of relationships per se, they were mostly these arrangements where-"

"ANYWAY," Teuchi interjected sternly, a glare locked on Iruka before turning his eyes back on me. "The person who you should really talk to about how to talk to girls is Ayame-chan. Speaking of Ayame, where is she?" Teuchi began glancing down the street worriedly, as if hoping her to appear when called.

"What happened?" Iruka said concernedly, past topic forgotten.

"I sent her to Konoha General for some milk and eggs but she has been gone for over an hour now." Glancing from the street back to us, he continued quickly. "I can't leave the stand until closing, but if you could look for her for me, I'd be very grateful."

Iruka responded immediately, "Yes, of course. Let me settle the bill-"he began, reaching for his wallet only to be stopped by Teuchi's upraised hand.

"Make sure she's all right and dinner was on the house."

"Sounds like a deal, Teuchi-jiji!" I said, powering down my 3rd bowl of ramen.

QUEST ADDED: SPILLED MILK

-GO TO KONOHA GENERAL AND LOOK FOR AYAME

QUESTS ARE OBJECTIVE DRIVEN ADVENTURES THAT HELP THE CHARACTER BY REWARDING THEM WITH EXPERIENCE POINTS, SPECIAL ITEMS, IMPROVED RELATIONS WITH A PARTICULAR CHARACTER OR GROUP, AND BY ADVANCING THE MAIN PLOT LINE. TO TRACK YOUR PROGRESS ON QUESTS OR TO SWITCH THE QUEST BEING TRACKED ON YOUR HUD COMPASS AND MAP, SAY 'JOURNAL'.

Rolling my eyes at yet another pop up, I quickly exited and glanced shortly at the compass on my HUD, finding the golden line indicating the quests' objective direction.

"All right Naruto let's go. Thank you for the meal Teuchi-san." Iruka said, standing up.

"It's my pleasure; just make sure she is all right."

Following Iruka down the stand and down the street, it was only a five minute walk to Konoha General.

"Walking into the store, we saw a few aisles of grocery food on our right, a block of freezers up ahead, and over on the left was Ayame speaking loudly to the cashier.

"What do you mean, 'We still don't have milk'? You told me that you had some right in back and I've been waiting here for nearly an hour and you still don't-"

"Miss, it isn't that we don't have it, it's that a family of large rodents has burrowed into our backroom and we can't get a team for a d-rank here until the morning because of the mission office being closed." The clerk explained.

"Hey, Ayame-neechan, Teuchi-jiji sent sensei and I out looking for you cause you've been gone so long." I said in lieu of a standard hello.

"Hello Naruto-kun! I hope teuchan wasn't too worried, I've just been standing here waiting for this guy," she said pointing at the clerk. "To go and get the milk from the back freezers."

"And with everything closing down for the night, this is the only store left open?" queried Iruka.

At Ayame's nod, Iruka turned and stepped toward the clerk. "If we go back there ourselves, can we get the milk?"

Frowning, the clerk slowly nodded his head. "Yes you can Ninja-san, but I cannot guarantee your safety."

Iruka scoffed, and then looked at me. "Are you up for it Naruto? This is the type of mission that you will receive when you are a genin."

"I'm totally in, sensei." I said, flashing my foxy smile.

QUEST UPDATED: SPILLED MILK

-GET THE MILK FROM THE FRIDGE IN THE BACK OF THE STORE

QUEST ADDED: WESLEY'S MISTAKE

-KILL THE FAMILY OF RATS LIVING IN KONOHA GENERAL

"The door towards the back is right there, so you can go on in whenever you want."

Walking towards the door, Iruka made a 'go-ahead' motion with his hand. "After you."

Struck with a sudden spike of inspiration I went over to the meat section, I picked up a small pack of hamburger. I walked over to the cashier and asked to pay for the beef.

"That'll be 4 ryo." The clerk said, frowning again. Paying for it, I took a large gob of the meat and rolled it up into a ball and walked back over to the door. I saw Iruka-sensei quirking an eyebrow at the meat. Smiling, I took out one of the explosive tags that I received from Suzume.

Shaking his head in amusement as I wrapped it around the wad of meat, Iruka stepped to the side of the door. Cracking the door, I looked for a good place to throw the trap. There, in the middle of the room, there was an open space. 'Perfect' I thought, cracking the door a bit more. 'That means I won't damage any products in there.' Lobbing the meat, I heard a large amount of scrambling as I closed the door. Quickly forming the 'Snake' hand sign, I saw the door rattle on its hinges as a muffled explosion was heard.

+60 XP

Opening the door, I let the smoke and smell from the dead rats waft out. Stepping in when I thought I could see, I spotted 3 dead … things in the middle of the room. They were about 4-5 feet long including the tail, and had massive front teeth, easily 6 inches long. 'Rodents' the clerk had said. Shaking my head, I thought that calling these monsters rats wouldn't be accurate at all.

A flash of red on my HUD compass signaled that I wasn't alone. A scrambling sound echoed out shortly before a 4th giant rat rounded the corner. The monster charged, galloping straight towards me over the bodies of its dead brethren.

"Naruto!" Iruka sensei called out, tossing me a Kunai. Catching it as the beast leaped for my throat, I ducked down and threw myself forward, tackling the beast to the ground. It tried to right itself when it hit, but I was having none of that. Grabbing its left forelimb, I pulled the monster onto its back, and then straddled its chest, keeping it still with my thighs. Hesitating for a moment, I plunged the kunai downward, stabbing in between the 4th and 5th ribs. A kill shot. It struggled for a moment as it bled out, a moment later it lay dead.

+ 20 XP

QUEST UPDATED: WESLEY'S MISTAKE

-TALK TO THE CLERK

"That's all of them sensei." I said, looking back at Iruka, who was shaking his head.

"Well done Naruto," Iruka congratulated me. "Keep doing missions like that and you'll only wear the rank of Genin a short time."

"What do you mean sensei?" I was confused. Did I do something terribly wrong?

"Because you'll make Chunin, Naruto." Iruka finished, taking back his kunai. "You thought out a plan of attack that killed most of the enemy without putting yourself at risk until you had to go in and secure the room. And when you killed, you did it cleanly and efficiently, without drawing it out into a needless battle."

I nodded, and started towards the freezer containing the milk. Thinking back on my actions, I had done exactly as Iruka described, save for the moment where I hesitated, almost feeling for the monster below me. Almost. Grabbing the milk I started to jog out to join Ayame.

QUEST UPDATED: SPILLED MILK

-TALK TO AYAME

Rolling my eyes as I walked to Ayame I plopped the carton of milk on the counter by the cashier.

"Here's the milk, neechan." Said, smiling to Ayame.

"Thank you Naruto-kun. I'll head back to teuchan now. He's probably still worried sick." Ayame said before walking away waving goodbye.

"WAIT NEECHAN!" I shouted, grabbing Ayame's attention quickly

QUEST COMPLETED: SPILLED MILK

+ 100 XP

"What is it Naruto?"

"Well," I started before thinking of a convenient excuse to both get rid of Iruka and talk to Ayame about Hinata. "Could I walk you back to Ichiraku's?"

"Aww, that's sweet. I can make it myself though; you don't have to escort me." Ayame said, patting my head.

"No, it's not that I don't think you can make it, I want to talk about something with you." I glanced at Iruka sharply. "In private

'Cool, more experience.' I thought before remembering my other quest.

"Is it over? Are the rodents dead?" The clerk said before I had a chance to talk.

Sighing with relief, the clerk looked at me with something other than derision. "Thank you ninja-san," The clerk said at length. "Here take this ryo, it is less than I would have paid for a genin team to do it."

RECEIVED 100 RYO

QUEST COMPLETED: WESLEY'S MISTAKE

+ 100 XP

**Doom De De Doom Doom**

LEVEL UP

'Awesome!' I thought while turning to face Iruka just before an orange screen blotted out all.

SKILL POINTS REMAINING 17

BARTER – -17+

BUUKIJUTSU MELEE- -25+

BUUKIJUTSU, RANGED- -21+

CHAKRA CONTROL- -27+

FUUINJUTSU- -30+

GENJUTSU- -12+

LOCKPICKING – -12+

MEDICINE- -20+

NINJUTSU- -27+

SMITHING- -25+

STEALTH- -24+

SPEECH – -12+

TAIJUTSU- -27+

FINISH

'I have to do it right away? Lame.'

Deciding quickly, I dropped 7 points on Chakra Control and 5 each on Ninjutsu and Taijutsu.

Finishing, I moved onto the next page.

'Here we go Perks!'

**Name**

**Level requirement**

**Other requirements**

**Ranks**

**Benefit**

Lady Killer

2

1

+10% damage to the opposite sex, and unique dialogue options with certain characters

Book Smart

2

IN 4

3

+5 Fuuinjutsu, +5 Medicine

Swift Learner

2

IN 4

3

+10% XP whenever XP is earned

Intense Training

2

10

+1 to any SPECIAL stat

Selecting Intense Training again, I scrolled over to the next page.

1 POINT REMAINING

STRENGTH 7+

PERCEPTION 3+

ENDURANCE 9+

CHARISMA -3+

INTELLIGENCE 7+

AGILITY 5+

LUCK 7+

FINISH

So out of all those, what do I want? I could go with Intelligence again, bring myself up near genius level, or I could improve my worse skills. Intelligence will give me more skill points per level, and generally allow me to be better. Perception means that I will notice things more, even the obscure things or things about people, like with Hinata... Moving on, I also have Charisma, meaning essentially people will like me more. I don't want to be _given_ respect though; I want to earn it through my actions. To show them all that they were wrong to ignore me. So that's a 'no' on the Charisma. Perception is useful but it only affects the Lockpick and Genjutsu skills, and the detecting enemies and stuff on my HUD compass. Intelligence affects skills I use, and the number of skill points I get per level up. Yeah, I'm totally going with increased Intelligence again.

I selected Intelligence before finishing, and being sure I was finished. Once I was done leveling up, I completed my turn towards Iruka.

"Heya, sensei! I'm going to walk Ayame back to the stand, ok"

Iruka nodded. "Yeah, that sounds fine. I have to do some paperwork for tomorrow anyway. And don't forget to do the paper I assigned to you Naruto! It's very important!" Turning and calling back as he went for the door, "Good luck tomorrow, Naruto!"

"Thanks Sensei!" I called back.

Walking outside, I saw Ayame standing in the street waiting for me, one arm holding groceries, the other on her hip. "So what's this I hear about you being a little heartbreaker?"

Choking on my spit, I barely got out a coherent "What?"

Smiling like a shark spying a slow fish, Ayame leaned forward. "Iruka told me 'Good luck with the little heartbreaker.' So who's the girl, and why are you breaking her heart?"

"I'm not breaking her heart! Or at least I don't think I am..."

"Hold on," Ayame said, before handing me her groceries. "There, that's better, ok, continue." Upon seeing my pout, she giggled. "Oh come on, if you want my advice, you have to pay the toll."

Grumbling at the unfairness of it all, I adjusted the groceries in my hands before continuing. "Well, there's this girl, and she is always blushing, and pushing her fingers together, and fainting, and stuttering around me." I said.

"You know she likes you, right?" Biting back a curse, I replied "I found out from Iruka and Teuchi earlier tonight."

"Ok, keep going" Ayame said, seemingly enjoying this conversation.

"I don't know what to do. Should ask her on a date, or talk to her, or-"

"Wow, slow down." Ayame interrupted. "Do you like this girl as a friend?"

"Yeah…" I replied cautiously

"Do you like her as more than a friend?"

Fidgeting now, I replied "Well, that's the thing. I don't know. I don't think I know her well enough to say one way or the other."

With a vulpine grin good enough to rival mine Ayame responded "Well then there's your solution."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you don't know her well enough to make that call get to know her better."

"But if she really likes me and I find out I don't like her, I don't want to hurt her feelings."

"If you find out you don't like her," Ayame said smartly "Then it's better for her to find out sooner rather than later, so she has more of her life to get over you. Plus it's just a crush."

With Ichiraku's in sight Ayame took back her groceries. "But promise me that you will talk to her." She said imperiously.

I nodded weakly, but was immediately scolded for it.

"No, no nodding for something like this, say that you promise me to talk to her."

"Ok, I promise that I will talk to her."

QUEST ADDED: A SPOT OF SUNSHINE

-TALK TO HINATA

'It's a quest? Is everything I agree to a quest?' I thought before Ayame broke my train of thought with a pat on the cheek.

"Good boy. And good luck with her and the test tomorrow. Drop by the stand once your done and we can talk some more." She said, walking to the ramen stand.

Shaking my head at my eventful day, I waved goodbye to Ayame before turning for home

Arriving back at what used to be my apartment, I was momentarily stunned.

'This is exactly what my apartment looks like back home.'

True enough, the apartment around me seemed an exact duplicate of my apartment, or at least, the one I had before my unfortunate death.

'Still hard to think that I died a few hours (days/years?) ago' I rubbed my chest absently while taking another look around my apartment.

It had all of the appropriate used ramen cups, overflowing trash and leaky kettle that would be commonplace in my home. Walking back to the 4''x8'' 'Main Room', I walked into my bed room. There was the raggedy cot and sheets that I had used in the past, the dresser with a leg missing in the front, and the cracked mirror. Walking into my bathroom, I saw the too small toilet, and the shower hose that only spewed out cold water. Walking back into my kitchen/dining room, I came to a simple conclusion.

"My stuff sucks!" Collapsing into my creaky chair I allowed my head to slam into the book on the table. Raising my head, I wondered where the book on the table came from.

'Stupid low Perception score!'

Scanning the cover, I read the title aloud. "A Comprehensive Shoppers Guide to Konoha". Curious now, I opened the book.

_Welcome to the Comprehensive Shopper's Guide to Konoha. We at Shizuke Press and Papers would like to thank you for your patronage, and encourage you to buy our products in the future. The fine purchase you have made contains a complete list of all shops in Konoha, at the time of the printing, categorized by the goods they sell. Those categories are then listed alphabetically to allow you to find the perfect shop with ease._

Shaking my head, I wondered if they had stores where I could pick up some replacements for my crappy furniture. I scanned the rest of the book, and saw six tabs sticking out of the book labeled _Armor/Weapon Dealers, Food stores, Furniture Stores, Jutsu Dealers, Medical Suppliers, Real Estate Agents, Second Hand/Discount stores._ 'Huh', I thought, 'They do have furniture in WAITAMINUTE WHAT?' I threw my eyes back to the _Jutsu Dealers_ tab, and proceeded tearing the book open, I feverishly read the entry.

_The Jutsu stores are a franchise unique to Konoha for one particular reason. That reason is the Uchiha clan. With their famous Sharingan, the Uchiha are said to have recorded every Jutsu in existence. While not true by any means, the Sharingan has laid bare many a jutsu. Recording these techniques for future generations of Uchiha, the elders of said clan came up with the brilliant idea of selling these jutsu to Konoha shinobi outside the clan and charging a large fee for them. By this method, the Uchiha clan became increasingly wealthy since the founding of Konoha. The idea first came about when…_

'This is supposed to be a shoppers guide not an encyclopedia!' Swearing in my head, I turned the page to find the damn jutsu.

_Fire and Ice is a Jutsu Dealer on Main Street that is available to Ninja of all rank. It contains an abundance of techniques available in the E, D, and C ranks. Fair prices, great location, and quality product make this Jutsu Dealer one of the top 3 in Konoha._

'Finally!' I thought, closing the book, 'But everywhere is closed right now. I won't be able to get good jutsu until tomorrow!' A light dawned upon me, 'But I'll already be getting an awesome jutsu because of Mizuki-teme and the Forbidden scroll! Kage Bunshin here I come!' Doing my happy dance, I resumed thinking about the awesome jutsu that could be had at that store. 'Ok. So after I'm a ninja and after the whole deal with Mizuki, THEN I'll go see the store.'

Nodding at my master plan, my mind drifted to how awesome it would be to actually pass the test this time. From there, it turned to the paper I still had to do for tomorrow. *Sigh*

'Let's do this' I thought, tiredly getting out the sheet that Sensei told me to fill out.

Getting a pen, I sat back down, and pushed the book on the table away. Placing the paper before me, I quickly signed my name in the corner of the page. Then I saw the page.

GENERALISED OCCUPATIONAL APTITUDE TEST

'A test? Oh man…'

QUESTION 1:

YOU ARE APPROACHED BY A FRENZIED FUINJUTSU SPECIALIST, WHO YELLS, "I'M GOING TO PUT MY STABILISER FIELD OVER YOUR QUANTUM ENTAGLEMENT MATRIX!" HOW DO YOU RESPOND

"BUT SIR, WOULDN'T THAT CAUSE A COLLAPSE OF THE MATRIX RESULTING IN CASCADE FAILURE OF ITS NULLIFIERS?"

"YEAH? UP YOURS TOO, BUDDY!"

SAY NOTHING, INSTEAD GRAB A NEARBY PIPE AND HIT HIM OVER THE HEAD WITH IT. FOR ALL YOU KNOW HE WAS TRYING TO BLOW UP THE VILLAGE.

SAY NOTHING, BUT SLIP AWAY BEFORE HE CAN CONTINUE RANTING.

'At least it's multiple choice.' I thought ruefully as I skimmed the answers. 'Still, it seems like a really odd question.' Giggling, I selected answer 2, 'Yeah that totally sounds like something I'd say. Ok, next question.'

QUESTION 2

WHILE WORKING AS AN INTERN AT THE HOSPITAL, A PATIENT WITH A STRANGE INFECTION ON HIS FOOT STUMBLES THROUGH THE DOOR. THE INFECTION IS SPREADING AT AN ALARMING RATE, BUT THE DOCTOR HAS STEPPED OUT FOR A WHILE. WHAT DO YOU DO?

AMPUTATE THE FOOT BEFORE THE INFECTION SPREADS

SCREAM FOR HELP

MEDICATE THE INFECTED AREA TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITIES

PLACE SEALS OVER THE INFECTION SO AS TO PLACE THE FOOT IN A TEMPORARY STASIS, GIVING YOU TIME TO THINK.

'Like I would work at the hospital, those bastards hate how fast I heal. 'It's not logically possible, how can you heal from a broken arm in one night?'', going over the answers I made my selection. '4 sounds like me. I wouldn't call for help, I don't know enough medically to medicate and I wouldn't amputate. So 4 sounds most likely for me. And next...'

QUESTION 3

YOU DISCOVER A YOUNG BOY IN THE 'BAD' PART OF THE VILLAGE. HE'S HUNGRY AND FRIGHTENED, BUT ALSO APPEARS TO BE IN POSSESION OF STOLEN PROPERTY. WHAT DO YOU DO?

GIVE THE BOY A HUG AND TELL HIM EVERYTHING WILL BE OK

CONFISCATE THE PROPERTY BY FORCE AND LEAVE HIM THERE AS PUNISHMENT

PICK THE BOY'S POCKET TO TAKE THE STOLEN PROPERTY FOR YOURSELF, AND LEAVE THE BOY TO HIS FATE

LEAD THE BOY TO SAFETY, THEN TURN HIM OVER TO THE ANBU

'Number 1, easily. I would never do 2 or 3 and turning him over seems like a betrayal. Iruka didn't do that with me, and so I won't do it to others.'

QUESTION 4

YOUR GRANDMOTHER INVITES YOU TO TEA, BUT YOU'RE SURPRISED WHEN SHE GIVES YOU A KUNAI AND ORDERS YOU TO KILL A CIVILLIAN IN KONOHA. WHAT DO YOU DO?

OBEY YOUR ELDER AND KILL THE CIVILLIAN WITH A KUNAI

OFFER YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESION FOR THE RESIDENT'S LIFE

ASK GRANNY TO TEACH YOU HER FIREBALL JUTSU TO KILL THE CIVILLIAN. AFTER ALL, YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS.

THROW YOUR TEA IN HER FACE

'WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE QUESTIONS? Why would I just go out and murder someone?' Shaking my head, I selected number 4, as it was the only one that I am likely to and that I wouldn't be disgusted with myself for doing.

QUESTION 5

OLD MAN TAKAMATTA HAS LOCKED HIMSELF IN HIS QUARTERS AGAIN, AND YOU HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO GET HIM OUT. HOW DO YOU PROCEED?

USE A LOCKPICK TO OPEN THE DOOR.

TRADE ONE OF THE LOCAL SUPPLIERS FOR A LOW-YIELD EXPLOSIVE TAG, AND USE THAT TO BLOW OPEN THE DOOR

FORM A CHAKRA STRING AND MAKE IT SLIDE UNDERNEATH THE DOOR AND UNDO THE LOCK

USE YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE DOORS HINGES TO PRY IT OPEN

'No option to go against orders? Oh well. 3 sounds pretty cool though, I think I'll go with that.'

QUESTION 6

OH, NO! YOU'VE BEEN EXPOSED A RARE VIRUS, AND A HAND HAS NOW GROWN OUT OF YOUR STOMACH! WHAT'S THE BEST COURSE OF TREATMENT?

A KUNAI TO THE BRAIN

LARGE DOSES OF THE PROPER ANTI-VIRAL SERUM

PRAYER. MAYBE KAMI WILL SPARE YOUR LIFE IN EXCHANGE FOR A LIFE OF PIOUS DEVOTION

INCORPORATE YOUR THIRD ARM INTO YOUR FIGHTING STYLE, AFTER ALL, WHO WOULD EXPECT THAT?

'At what point in my career is this even possible?' Staring in wonder at the question, I decided that I should probably proceed as quickly through the questions as possible so as to not risk my sanity. 'So number 1 and 3 are out. Suicide is not an option and I don't think Kami has much to do with my life. Between 2 and 4, I would probably end up going with 4. I am after all, the number one most surprising ninja. That and it would lend fighting with guts a whole new meaning.'

QUESTION 7

A FELLOW SHINOBI IS IN POSSESION OF A POWERFUL JUTSU SCROLL. YOU WANT IT. WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO OBTAIN IT?

TRADE A POWERFUL JUTSU OF YOUR OWN IN EXCHANG E FOR IT

STEAL IT AT THE POINT OF A KUNAI

SNEAK INTO THE SHINOBI'S QUARTERS AND STEAL THE COMIC FROM HIS DESK

CAST AN ILLUSION MAKING HIM THINK THAT THE SCROLL IS JUST SOME JUNK MAIL. WHEN HE THROWS IT OUT, YOU RETRIEVE IT

'All right, I'm pretty sure 2, 3, and 4 can have some pretty serious repercussions. Like death and dismemberment. And getting kicked out of the village. So number 1 it is.'

QUESTION 8

YOU DECIDE IT WOULD BE FUN TO PLAY A PRANK ON YOUR SENSEI. YOU ENTER HIS HOUSE WHEN HE ISN'T THERE AND…

GO INTO HIS BATHROOM AND LOOSEN THE BOLTS ON THE PIPES. WHEN THE SINK IS TURNED ON, THE ROOM WILL FLOOD

USE A FUUTON JUTSU TO COOL HIS FRIDGE SO THAT ALL HIS FOOD IS FROZEN

BREAK INTO HIS MEDICINE CABINET AND REPLACE HIS HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE PILLS WITH SUGAR PILLS

CLOSE 2/3 OF ALL THE DOORS IN THE HOUSE, AND CAST A GENJUTSU TO MAKE THEM ALL SEEM OPEN

'Now HERE is where I excel!' Rubbing my hands together gleefully, I read over the list of pranks. 'Ok, so 3 is a no 'cause I'd give him a heart attack just by doing something later on. 4 is a no 'cause I stink at genjutsu. 1 probably also no. I already pulled that prank. So number 2 it is.'

QUESTION 9

ON YOUR NIGHTIME STROLL AROUND THE VILLAGE, A STRANGE CREATURE CROSSES YOUR PATH. YOU'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT. WHAT DO YOU DO?

KILL IT WITH FIRE!

JUMP ON IT FROM A ROOFTOP, BREAKING IT'S BACK

TRAP THE CREATURE, IN A NET AND BRING IT TO THE ANBU

YOU USE YOUR ABILITY TO SENSE CHAKRA TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND THE CREATURE BEFORE YOU

'Again with the weird stuff. What did I miss out on during my time as a ninja that makes this seem commonplace?' Snapping my thoughts back to the problem I chose answer number 1. 'That seems like something I'd do, if I had a fire technique.'

QUESTION 10

YOUR SENSEI IS SICK FOR THE DAY, AND YOU HAVE GIVEN TIME OFF. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO WITH YOUR FREE TIME?

"I REPAIR MY WEAPONS AND ARMOR IN CASE I NEED THEM AGAIN SOON!"

"I MAKE TOOTHPICKS OUT OF DUMMIES ON THE TRAINING GROUND TO KEEP UP MY STRENGTH."

"I STEAL FROM PICKPOCKETS. IT'S MORE OF A CHALLENGE, AND MORALLY CORRECT."

"I DRESS UP AS MY CLASSMATES AND SENSEI AND TRY TO GET THEM INTO TROUBLE."

'2 or 4. Probably 2 honestly. It's kinda creepy to dress up as my class mates. Training is what I'd do on my day off.' I set the paper aside after circling my last answer. Yawning I turned my head to get a look at the time.

"WHAT! It's midnight? I gotta get to bed I have the test early tomorrow!"

I put the paper in my school folder, and raced for the shower. Tossing off all my clothes, I leaped into the shower, bracing myself for the torrent of freezing water I was about to be engulfed in.

I wasn't braced hard enough.

"OHMYKAMIWHY?!" Tears flooded my eyes as I scrubbed myself with trembling fingers. Rushing through the cleansing process, I jumped out of the shower right before I caught pneumonia.

I picked up my clothes, and went to my bedroom. Throwing the clothes in basket for my dirty laundry, I tried to get some underwear out of my drawer…Only to have the entire bureau almost collapse on me.

Grumbling to myself as I put on my underwear and the pajamas that I had on my bed, I crawled onto my ratty cot and fell asleep with a final thought on my mind.

'On second thought, maybe I should buy furniture before my jutsu.'

Authors Note:

WOOHOO

That's the sound of me celebrating another chapter biting the dust.

Now to address some concerns that readers have leveled.

First: No. These guys are 12, any romantic entanglements won't be. At least until maybe after the time skip. Also, Naruto may start with Hinata, but then go Anko, or Temari, or Sakura, or Tsunade… no not Tsunade, but you get the idea. There are some limits, not many, but some. Also there isn't a set pairing for this story. The only reason I am making Naruto realize Hinata is there right now, is that it would be cruel to wait three years until she confesses her feelings and then have Naruto go with someone else. The first step in either a relationship (or the option containing the least pain for Hinata later on if they aren't in a relationship) is getting to know one another. She knows Naruto very well, but he hardly knows her at all.

Second: No, I am not trying to make Naruto overpowered. Genin level perks come in at level 4, which he still hasn't reached yet. Then Chunin level stuff is at level 8, which he won't really reach till the Chunin exams.

Third: Yes, the videogame! Naruto is beginning to be a cliché. However it is a cliché that I enjoy immensely, and so I will continue to enjoy to the utmost.

Flamers can go flame themselves, but those of you with constructive criticism and helpful advice are welcome.

DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!


	4. Examination and Graduation

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or the game(s) Fallout 3/New Vegas. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto, and Bethesda Softworks respectively… I am just having some fun!

_Last time on Naruto: Fractured fate._

_Grumbling to myself as I put on my underwear and the pajamas that I had on my bed, I crawled onto my ratty cot and fell asleep with a final thought on my mind._

_'On second thought, maybe I should buy furniture before my jutsu.'_

Present

I rode on the back of the Prismatic dragon destroying the golems of stone and iron that rose in opposition with mighty jutsu. Bolts of lightning flew from my hands, streams of plasma from my lips. Oceans, vast and mighty rose and swallowed the golem's whole. While I turned the army of rock to rubble, I saw ahead of me a light. It waxed and built, growing in mass and intensity until it rivaled the sun itself. Then IT spoke to me with words that shook the world and cast me down to an abyss of eternal darkness.

**EHHH-EHHH-EHHH-EHHH-EHHH-EHHH**

*THUD*

"Damn it!" I mumble/slurred into my pillow. I cracked my eye to glance at the obnoxious alarm that had disturbed my slumber. The numbers glared at me, a dark and angry red.

**8:30**

"FUCK!" I shouted as I threw off the cover and leapt out of bed. 'How can I be late **again**?

Sunlight blasted in from the window connecting to the balcony, hurting my eyes as I hurriedly threw on whatever clothes I had around (the same thing as yesterday). Pulling on my goggles, and yanking on my sandals, I ran for the door. Pausing with my hand on the handle, I then ran into the kitchen, grabbing my school folder off the table, before continuing on my sprint out the door.

'That could have sucked' I thought as I raced down the street towards the academy.

-5 minutes later-

I burst through the classroom door only to be horse collared by Iruka-sensei.

"Good to see you're taking this seriously" I heard him say dryly.

"Hrgl" I tried to respond before realizing I was still being strangled with my shirt.

"I'm sure," Iruka replied, as if doubting my gagging noise, before letting go, "now go sit down."

Walking away from Iruka and Mizuki, I took an open seat next to Chouji and Kiba, waiting for the inevitable test to come.

"All right students. Now, you all know that today is the exam to determine whether or not you will become ninja and as I explained earlier on, though some of you weren't here," I pretended to look innocent while Iruka glared at me, "that you will only be taking two parts of the test. That means that out of combat, accuracy with thrown weapons, general knowledge, medicine, fuuinjutsu, stealth, speed and fitness, ninjutsu, and genjutsu, two parts will be chosen at random and given to you, the students, to complete. This process comes from a long history of notable tradition that I would teach you, but after today, I might not be your teacher. Students likely to fail, you have been warned." Sensei finished to snickers.

"Now, the two parts that will be given out today are Ninjutsu and General Knowledge-" Iruka tried to say before being interrupted by a voice of to the side.

"WHAT? THAT'S SO STUPID! Why can't we just show off our awesome Taijutsu instead of some stupid…wordy…dumb test?"

Iruka squinted to my right, before saying dryly "I have a feeling I will be teaching you about the 'long history and notable tradition' of this test. You know that part that I said about 5 seconds before you interrupted me? You have to learn to listen to your superiors while they are talking Hoshi, otherwise you will stay the dead last." Looking back to the rest of the class, he continued. "ANYWAY, I will pass out the general knowledge test, and when all of you turn it in, I expect the assessment I assigned yesterday to be there with it. After that we will continue to the ninjutsu portion of the exam. Now, are there any questions?" Taking a moment to look around the room, sensei gave a nod. "Good. Pass the tests back and we can get this show on the road. You have 30 minutes to finish." Accepting a stack of papers proffered to him by Mizuki, Iruka passed the papers to the first row.

I waited for a few moments to get my paper before nearly wrenching it out of the hands of the girl in front of me… I was nervous. Sue me.

After receiving the test and hastily scrawling 'Naruto Uzumaki' in the top right corner, I turned my eyes to the questions.

_What are the names of all five major hidden villages?_

SPECIAL CHECK (INTELLIGENCE 7/4) PASS 25 XP AWARDED

'I get more experience **per question**? That's awesome!' I thought before proceeding to the next question.

-25 minutes 9 questions and 275 XP later-

Folding the paper over, I felt a warm glow in my chest, like the kind you get after a good day or after a job well done. I pulled out my GOAT and put on top of my now done test in anticipation of handing it in. Looking at the clock I saw that I still had a few minutes left before handing in the test, so I started looking around the room. There were the 'dead lasts' sitting with me, Chouji, Shikamaru, and Kiba, the 'fan girls' clustered as closely around Sasuke as possible, so that's Ino and Sakura-chan, Sasuke himself, then over there is the 'new' Dobe, Hoshi, next to him is Ami, and next to HER is Hibachi. That group was a bunch of dicks on my last time through. Hibachi tried to kill me by sending me out to an area where there were active enemy kunoichi, Ami was a bully to all the girls and some of the boys, and Hoshi was a second-rate prankster! Every prank I did, every mastery of the art of comedy, traps, and stealth he would do something immeasurably smaller and insignificant. I would put glue on every cup in the teachers' lounge as a distraction for the laxatives in the coffee itself, and then he would just put glue on Iruka's seat. I would paint the FUCKING Hokage monument, and he would doodle penises on the board while Iruka was out of the room. I mean, that doesn't necessarily mean he's a dick, but when I draw a masterpiece and someone draws a finger-painting and they are even technically considered the same thing, it gets me a bit pissed off. Continuing my search of the room I saw mop of blue hair turn quickly away. Squinting in confusion, I wondered whose hair it could… Oh, right, Hinata. Feeling uncomfortable about the coming confrontation between Hinata and me, I tried to focus on other things. The second hand on the clock seemed to slow to a crawl as I focused my nervous feeling on it. 'Why am I so nervous? I'll just talk to her, it'll be fine. Yeah, perfectly, ok. Because not at one other time in my life has a girl for no good reason become an enormous rage monster and punted me halfway across the village. Except maybe every Single TIME. Yeah, everything will be fine. Oh, Kami I'm so dead.'

Letting my eyes slide back to the blue haired girl I got caught looking at her and quickly averted my gaze. 'Ohhhh kami. What do I do? She saw me and I saw her and _what am I supposed to do?_'

Saving me from my present dilemma, Iruka called for both sets of tests to be passed to the front. Shoving my papers into the outstretched hand of the girl in front of me I pointedly did NOT look at Hinata. Standing up, Mizuki addressed the class, "Ok everyone, come on down in front, line up in a nice line, and we'll get started on your Ninjutsu test!"

Standing with the rest of the class, I walked down the stairs with the rest of the students, and I felt a thrill play out in my stomach. I was going to do it. I was going to graduate fair and square and I was going to get my own forehead protector. As much as I loved Iruka-sensei's, having, earning, my own was always a dream of mine. Ever since I wanted to be a shinobi I have wanted to earn my place among them. It was just a step away from earning their respect, no matter how grudging a respect it may be.

"Now that you're all lined up, we are going to be calling on you alphabetically to come into the next room where you will be tested one at a time." Mizuki continued. "So let's start with the A's. Will Ami Aizawa please come to the next room?"

Waiting in that line, I couldn't help but think of what I was going to say later to Hinata. How could I bring that up? "Hey, I know you like me, but I don't really know you at all. Wanna hang out some time?" Yeah, that would work out REAL well. 'Why can't my life be like last time? Oh that's right. Because last time I was dumb, ignored her, got beat up by Sakura, and then I got killed by Sasuke. But it was arguably easier. Despite the fact that I never got any respect from anyone ever because they all said I was such an idiot, and a moron, and how I was fated to lose,' I thought, finishing in my best Neji voice, 'Fuckin' pricks.'

Ending on that thought, I decided to avoid thinking about any dicks or girls until I had finished the test.

-10 minutes later-

"Uzumaki, it's your turn." I heard Iruka-sensei saying from the doorway.

Walking out of the radically reduced classroom (but what can you expect with a clan name like Uzumaki?) I followed sensei into the next room.

I walked towards the middle of the room as Iruka took a seat at the desk in front of me. Standing at ease, I waited to be addressed.

"Naruto," Iruka began. "You are to perform all three Ninjutsu reviewed yesterday, beginning with the Henge. You will assume the Hokage."

Consciously reminding myself that Tsunade wasn't Hokage yet, my hands flew through the seals before a shout of 'Henge' signaled a cloud of smoke. I stood as the Sandaime Hokage, in his Hokage robes with his Hokage hat, and chewing on the end of his pipe.

Iruka and Mizuki inspected my transformation carefully before nodding. "Very good, Naruto, full marks. Next is the Kawarimi." Mizuki said before throwing a chalkboard eraser at me.

Flashing my hands through a three handseal sequence, I swapped places with a trash barrel 4 yards away, neatly dodging the slow eraser. Swapping back, I waited again. After making a few notes, Iruka looked up.

"Last, we have the Bunshin, and you have to make at least three. You may start whenever you're ready."

I nodded, and took a calming breath before flashing through handseals again, smoke poured from me as I put chakra into the technique, finishing with a cry of "Bunshin no Jutsu!" When the smoke cleared, I saw only one clone in front of me. 'What the hell? It worked yesterday!' I took a frantic look around before seeing the two clones behind me. I gave a mental sigh of relief, 'Kami THAT could have ended badly.' Iruka penned a few more notes before looking up at me again.

"Naruto," Iruka began, "You were in 8th place among the men in the class. Your Academic scores, from Medicine to general knowledge to Fuuinjutsu, are all prodigious. Your Ninjutsu scores also are fantastic as well as you Taijutsu. Your Genjutsu needs a LOT of work, falling in the bottom 6th of the class, and you need to pay better attention to your surroundings. Your Stealth is average, as is your Lockpicking and your speed. Your use of Kunai and other thrown implements is pretty good, and better recently, if this report is correct. If you had better Genjutsu grades and kept a better awareness of what was going on, you could have been in the running for Rookie of the Year. However it was not to be. According to the exam you took last night, the three skills you are most likely to rely on are your Ninjutsu, Chakra Control, and Speech skills. Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir." I said too excited to say anything but.

"Very well."

Iruka made a few more notes on the paper before looking at Mizuki and gave a single nod. Both of them stood up and came around in front of their desk. Mizuki held a forehead protector with blue cloth in his hands, the symbol of Konoha etched proudly into its surface. Mizuki turned and handed the hitai-ate to Iruka, who then turned back to me.

"The rank of Genin is bestowed upon you. You are now officially recognized as a ninja of Konoha. Carry the Will of Fire well, young shinobi."

Totally NOT tearing up a bit, I accepted the forehead protector with pride, bowing low to Iruka as I received it. I immediately put it on above my goggles, so that my blonde mop of hair lay underneath its blue cloth. Smiling, I looked back up at Iruka.

"You've been looking forward to this day for a long time. I'm proud of you Naruto." He then put his hand on my shoulder. "Now remember to file all of your registration forms, you get them at the Hokage's office. Also remember to come back here, five days from today at ten a.m. to meet your new Jonin-sensei, and your new Genin team, ok?"

"You got it sensei!"

"Good, now go celebrate with your classmates."

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei!" I said, before rushing out the door.

TUTORIAL COMPLETE

SAVING YOUR PROGRESS…

'What the hell? I can save my progress? Can I do that myself or does it just happen every so often and I have no control over it?'

PROGRESS SAVED

ACHIEVEMENT GAINED: GENIN OF KONOHA. 200 XP AWARDED

**DOOM De-De Doom DOOOM**

LEVEL UP

'Awesome!' I thought with a smile, before the world dulled around me.

SKILL POINTS REMAINING 18

BARTER- -17+

BUUKIJUTSU, MELEE- -25+

BUUKIJUTSU, RANGED- -20+

CHAKRA CONTROL- -51+

FUUINJUTSU- -32+

GENJUTSU- -12+

LOCKPICKING - -12+

MEDICINE- -22+

NINJUTSU- -47+

SMITHING- -25+

STEALTH- -24+

SPEECH- -27+

TAIJUTSU- -32+

FINISH

'Damn, how did Chakra Control and Ninjutsu get so high? I mean, I'm not complaining, but it would be nice if I had some sort of…' I trailed of as I remembered Iruka talking about the skills I was most likely to rely on. 'Explanation' I finished belatedly. 'Is that where all those extra points came from? What did I choose again? It was Ninjutsu, Chakra Control and…' Trailing off once again, I looked at my Speech skill, which had risen from a measly twelve, to a relatively impressive twenty-seven.

'Huh… Well that sucks.' I thought grumpily. 'I totally would have put it into Taijutsu or weapon handling, Fuuinjutsu at a stretch, before a put anything into Speech. I don't think I can change that either. FUCK!' I finished with great frustration

'Well where should I put THESE points?' I wondered rhetorically. 'Should I bring up my lowest stuff, or make my best stuff better?' Thinking on that for a moment, I decided to go with neither of the proffered solutions. 'I should go with what I use, what I know how to employ in potential and inevitable combat scenarios. While increasing my skills increases my knowledge of the subject so upgraded, I am not aware or made aware of the limits of what I do or do not know. So I can't plan around what I think that I might know, or what may come to me. I need to be certain of what I can or cannot do. So first to exclude all of the stuff that I haven't used, don't plan to use, and don't know how to use. To start with, I can't think of one instance where I have ever used or needed Lockpicking or Smithing, I have never used Genjutsu or Fuuinjutsu or Medicine (except when I was diagnosing Hinata, but I was really off then and that shouldn't really count); I wasn't all that great at the Stealth approach because I lacked patience (still do for that matter), and Barter might have been useful, but I think I would still be overcharged for stuff anyway. The stuff that remains is Bukijutsu, Melee and Ranged, Chakra Control, Ninjutsu, Speech and Taijutsu. Weapons I didn't use that much, but they are very useful. Ninjutsu, Speech and Chakra Control have already been raised by 15 each. So all that remains that I use consistently, that I know how to employ in combat and that will prove useful in the future is Taijutsu.' Nodding at my improved logic, I quickly dropped all 18 points on Taijutsu, bringing it up to 48. Hitting the finish button, I was astounded by the number of perks listed before me.

Black Widow/  
Lady Killer

2

1

+10% damage to the opposite sex, and unique dialogue options with certain characters

Book Smart

2

IN 4

3

+5 Fuuinjutsu, +5 Medicine

Swift Learner

2

IN 4

3

+10% XP whenever XP is earned

Intense Training

2

8

+1 to any SPECIAL stat

Comprehension

4

IN 4

1

+1 additional skill point whenever a skill book is read

Educated

4

IN 4

1

+3 skill points per level

Genin Ninjutsu Specialization

4

Ninjutsu 20

1

D rank Ninjutsu cost 50% less chakra to cast

Genin Combat Specialization

4

Bukijutsu, Melee 20/ Bukijutsu, Ranged 20/Taijutsu 20

3

25% more damage with a chosen weapon type/style  
(Each time this perk is chosen, it must apply to a different weapon type or fighting style)

Escape Artist

4

AG 4, Ninjutsu 35

4

Level 1, Kawarimi and other jutsu can now be used at double the distance from an object that the switch is being performed with. Level 2, you can now substitute with other ninja or people. Level 3, Your substitution distance has doubled again. Level 4, you can now substitute with air.

'Well that's different…' I saw a pattern in the perk level requirement. 'So I get new perks every two level. OK, that's cool. Shouldn't be so surprising in hindsight, I wasn't going to be stuck with like 4 choices forever.' Turning my mind back to the new choices at hand I tried to find the perk that I wanted.

'Comprehension sounds kinda dumb. I haven't even run into any of those 'skill books' yet. Educated sounds good, it will allow me to bring up my skills faster, even if it is only marginally faster. 'Next is the Ninjutsu perk, I would normally be all over this except for two things. 1, I have never really had Chakra as a problem, and 2, I don't use D-Ranks. So that's a no, for now at least. Genin Combat specialization sounds good, gives me bonus damage, and does it right now, no having wait for stuff in the future, like a level up, for it to help. Then there's Escape Artist, which sounds like it would be pretty useful if I used Kawarimi more often, but I don't think I've used it once, ever, outside of class. So it comes down to either Combat or Educated with the new perks, or Intense Training with the old perks and bring up my perception or something.' Taking a moment to weigh all three options before me, I gave a decisive nod. 'I'll get Educated now, because I won't be really in combat for a while and I seem to be leveling up quickly. Next level I'll get Combat specialization, and at level 6 maybe I'll upgrade my perception.' Following through on my choice, the dulled out world came soaring back into focus.

'All right, NOW I can go and celebrate with Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru and the others!' I thought as I rushed towards the Academy doors.

-5 minutes later-

I found myself once again on the swing outside of the Academy's doors, separate from the growing crowd of children proudly displaying their new status and their parents tearfully congratulating them. There were many 'I'm so proud of you's and 'I knew you would do it's, and many promises of splendid gifts waiting for the children back home. Every time one of those parents glanced in my direction though, that all changed. The looks would darken, some would develop a twitch in their eye or lip, and some openly sneered in my direction. What they all, all of them, would do, however, was whisper to one another. The 'I'm so proud of you' moment replaced by "How could they have made HIM a shinobi?" and even a few "I'm afraid to think what the Hokage will do next with that little monster."

Monster…

They call me Monster.

They call me Monster, when, with no thought of reward, I constantly keep an ACTUAL monster, a motherfucking Demon no less, locked in my gut so it doesn't harm them. A Demon who has made it well known, on numerous occasions, that on the list of its dearest desires is the consumption of my soul, the death of my precious people, and the destruction of my village. Still they call ME, MONSTER!

DAMN IT!

I knew that by starting all over again, everything would reset, but it's one thing to know that people would lose what little respect for you that you had earned, and another completely to stare at their hostile faces while they call you Monster.

A lesser man would be tempted to show them just how monstrous they could be.

I shook my head to clear the rising tide of violent thought. 'Well I did know that I would have to earn their respect, no better time to start than now.' Getting up from my seat on my swing, I decided to go on a walk to cool my temper. Starting on what would be a very long walk, I didn't stop to think about leaving the crowd behind me.

And I didn't think about the strange blue haired girl that I promised Ayame I would talk to.

-3 hours later-

Wandering idly around a cluster of training grounds on the edge of Konoha, I kicked at the grass. I felt like I was missing something important, but right now I couldn't bring myself to care.

"Hey, Naruto" I heard someone say from behind me. Turning to see who it was, I couldn't help but once again curse my perception score.

"I haven't seen you since your graduation, where have you been?" Sensei said, walking towards me.

"Oh, you know, around" Trying to play off what I was feeling at the moment. Iruka wasn't having any of that, though.

"You seem a little down. Is something wrong?"

"No I'm fine. I just wanted to clear my head, ya know?"

Iruka looked at me for a long moment before saying softly, rhetorically "It was the stares again, wasn't it?"

'Maybe I should level up speech and stealth; I seem to be kinda crap at any form of deception.' I thought heatedly before answering Iruka with a simple nod

"Come on, let's get some ramen to celebrate, you only become a genin once after all."

Nodding once again, this time in gratitude, I started to walk with Iruka back towards Konoha's center and a delicious bowl of Ramen.

-15 minutes later-

It was around 7 o'clock in the afternoon when Iruka and I strolled up to Ichiraku's. I could see Teuchi bending over a large pot giving it a stir every so often.

"HEEEYYYYYY! There's the happy graduate!" Teuchi-jiji called out as Iruka and I approached "I heard all about it when Iruka-san was here earlier looking for you! 8th place in your class, he said. Quite respectable for the up and coming Hokage."

"Maybe, Teuchi-jiji, but it's still a long, hard road before I hold that hat." I said as I sat down on a bar stool.

"That's true, Naruto-kun," Iruka said, sitting beside me, "but it is one step closer regardless of how long a journey it may be. And tonight we're celebrating that step. Teuchi-san, 3 bowls apiece for Naruto and I."

"Very good! Ayame, I need more flavoring out front. Naruto-kun and Iruka-san just arrived."

"Be right there; don't start the story without me!" Ayame called back.

'Story?' I thought, 'What story? I sat down and took a written test, and then I stood and took a ninjutsu test. There wasn't exactly an epic struggle there.'

Rushing out with a box full of ramen seasoning, Ayame dropped it into Teuchi's hands before jumping over the counter and enveloping me in a hug.

"You did it! I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks, onee-chan!" I responded through a mouthful of shirt, trying to return the hug. After a few more seconds, she eventually let me go.

"So how did it go?" She asked.

"What do you mean, 'how did it go'? It went great!" I exclaimed, flicking the metal plate of my forehead protector.

"Well obviously," she said, scoffing, "I meant the other thing."

Squinting in confusion, I carefully said "What other thing?"

"The girl that you were supposed to talk to now that you understood that she had feelings for you? Hinata?" Ayame saying, getting progressively louder and putting her hands on her hips.

'Uh oh'

"Well I didn't really see her today; she must have run off after she graduated. A lot of kids did that." I said, nodding quickly and trying to get her to accept the idea.

"And you didn't talk to her before class? Or after class and before she left?"

Thanking whatever god of luck that happened to be listening at that point that Ayame was listening instead of pounding me to pulp, I proceeded with my explanation. "No, because I was late this morning, during class we were all lined up and I couldn't talk to her then, and then she went before me on the ninjutsu test and she probably left before I even got outside."

"She _probably left? _ You didn't even look did you?" 'Well so much for that hope' I thought as Ayame leaned dangerously close, a judgmental frown on her face, eyes seeming to bore into me.

"No…" I said, looking down and away from her "I wanted to talk to everybody about graduating, but then they were all with their parents but me and … I just … I couldn't talk to them right then." I finished, swallowing hard.

Ayame's features softened, looking slightly abashed before she leaned in and gave me another hug. "Hey, you'll talk to her next time," She leaned back, giving me a mock glare, "Right?"

"Right."

"Good, now I think your ramen is getting cold."

Looking at the counter, I saw two bowls of ramen (Pork and Miso) before me. Forgoing my usual curse on perception, I immediately set to work devouring all that was in front of me. Putting to rest all spiteful villagers and girls with crushes, I concentrated on the nectar and ambrosia in front of me, in the form of spice, meat, broth and noodle.

-45 minutes later-

Iruka was part way through telling Teuchi, Ayame and I about a prank involving ANBU headquarters, a jar of pickles, 20 yards of rope, 2 blue paint cans, a feat of juggling, and a dolphin when a voice spoke out from behind him.

"Iruka-Chunin, Hokage-sama requests your presence immediately." Iruka froze, turning excessively slowly until he was face to face with a cat masked ANBU.

"Is this about my prank? It was _seven years_ ago!" Iruka exclaimed.

The ANBU stared through the soulless mask for what seemed like years before uttering "No."

"Oh…ok then. I'll head up there right now." Iruka finished, saluting the ANBU. Returning the salute, the ANBU disappeared a second later.

Turning back to us, Iruka shrugged his shoulders, "Well when you gotta go…" He reached down and jostled my hair a bit before saying to me "Congratulations again, Naruto. I'll see you in 5 days."

"See you then, Iruka-sensei." I responded.

A mumbled 'Thank you' to the Ichiraku's and he too disappeared.

"Well I wonder what all that's about…" Teuchi said shaking his head, and turning his attention back to the pot of ramen he was brewing.

"I don't know," I replied honestly "But I should probably head home too. It is getting pretty late after all, and I did stay up late last night." I finished, shooting a dry look to Ayame.

She patted me on the cheek. "If you were a bit older, someone might have taken that completely out of context."

"What do you mean?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing" she giggled.

'Like that isn't saying 'I'm having a joke at your expense.''

"Anyway, I'll be off then." I said, getting up and bringing out Gama-chan.

Teuchi held up his hand however and said, "Your money is no good here tonight Naruto. Consider it a 'Happy Graduation' present."

I smiled back at him "Thanks, Teuchi-jiji. Bye Ayame-neechan!" Giving a final wave, I began the walk back to my apartment.

-10 minutes later-

Coming into my apartment, I took off my goggles and forehead protector and laid them on my dresser. I went into the kitchen and filled a glass of water. Sitting down at my table, I started to work through what it was that I felt like I was missing.

'I got up, ran out the door to go to the exam, came back in to get my stuff, back out the door, got horse collared by Iruka, took the test, thought about what to say to Hinata when I finally sit down and talk to her, waited in line, took the ninjutsu test, leveled up, got pissed at the parents of my friends, or at least the parents of my classmates, wandered around for three hours, ate ramen with Iruka-sensei at Ichiraku's and then I came home. What did I not do today?' Sighing with frustration, I put away what I missed today with what I would do tomorrow.

'I have to do my shinobi registration forms and register for a picture, and then I have free time to wander Konoha. I think I might check out some of those stores from that book I read last night. 'Shoppers guide to Konoha' or something. I'm definitely going to check out that jutsu store though. I have Kage Bunshin but that doesn't mean I can't have more variety in …my…'

And that's when I realized what I had missed. I graduated, and in so doing, I must have become a less tempting target for Mizuki's scheme to steal the Forbidden Scroll. A scroll which contained the single most used in my ninjutsu arsenal. A ninjutsu which I no longer possessed because I didn't steal the Forbidden Scroll.

'I. DON'T. HAVE. KAGE BUNSHIN.'

I shook for a minute. Tremors raged up and down my spine until my entire emotional state of loss and hurt and anger could be summarized into a pair of spoken words.

"MOTHER FUCKER!"

**AN.**

And another one bites the dust. This is a bit of a shorter chapter but as I was originally going to include everything from the ending there until team selection and that would have taken WAY longer to write, I cut it short. Also this chapter only seems really shorter cause instead of a crap load of menu's everywhere, I ended up trying to capture the characters method of thinking, cementing him for both you and me as a character, or at least, as a changed character.

Also I now have an Official Beta. His call sign is HTM; he's a really cool guy, and a good author. Big thanks to HTM for his work with me on this chapter.

On the subject of the Guidebook, it should be up to spec between chapters 8 and 12. So soonish, don't nail me down on a date though.

On the subject of Chapters, I should have two more out by Christmas, and probably a couple more before the end of February. That's an estimate, no promises. I'm only telling you this because it was brought before me in more than a few PM's that people really didn't want to see this do a classic but terrible five chapter flat. That is to say, put out 5 chapters, and then be put on an indefinite Hiatus before eventually being dropped as a story. I want to say that will not be the case here. I WILL SEE THIS TO THE BITTER END. COME WHAT MAY, COME SLEET, COME SUN, COME RAIN, COME SHINE, THE SHOW WILL GO ON!

Remember to Review. THX!


	5. Vacation and Teams

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or the game(s) Fallout 3/New Vegas. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto, and Bethesda Softworks respectively… I am just having some fun!

_-Naruto: Fractured Fate-_

_Last time on Naruto: Fractured fate:_

'I! DON'T! HAVE! KAGE BUNSHIN!'

I shook for a minute. Tremors raged up and down my spine until my entire emotional state of loss and hurt and anger could be summarized into two words.

"MOTHER FUCKER!"

_Present:_

I sat, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for Iruka-sensei to arrive and present the team listings for the recently graduated students. It was the fifth day since that most disappointing of nights, and I have settled since for simply repressing anything to do with that precious technique.

_'REPRESS! Anything to do with that technique._' I thought, jerking my head in a brusque attempt to beat the memory back into my subconscious, if not out of my head altogether.

In the days since the night that shall not be spoken of, I've tried to come to terms with what the absence of Kage Bunshin would do for me and my fighting style. '_And mental stability, I am rather longing for a return to anything remotely normal at this point, even if it is just being a moron, or being hit by Sakura._'

I shook my head to bring it out of depressing thoughts. '_I don't have it, I can't get it without severe consequences, so it's not worth thinking about_'. With that thought in mind, I turned my attention back to my surroundings. Taking another cursory look at my classmates, I could see them frolicking about with each other, the different cliques the only thing dividing them. There was Ami, the bitch of the class, who liked to pick on anyone with a smaller group of friends than her, sitting over with three of her friends over on the right side of the classroom. Then there was Hibachi was sitting with a group of his friends around the center front of the class. Hoshi was creating trouble with the 'dead-lasts' in the back of the class, Hinata was sitting alone in the back as well, Sasuke was broodingly staring out the window again – '_That man needs a new hobby_' – Ino and Sakura sitting next to him as they try to get his attention, and here I was sitting, in the left front corner of the classroom, and there, clustered around Iruka's and Mizuki's – '_Though not anymore', I thought vindictively_ – seat, a few guys are trying to get small game of tag going. The way they were running around kinda reminded me of something, a certain kid with a scarf…

**Flashback:**

I was sitting in front of a camera with all of my shinobi gear on. I wore a dark blue t-shirt, with a dark red swirl on the back, a pair of dark green shinobi pants, my blue sandals, a 25 pack of kunai and shuriken, my goggles, and my forehead protector worn like a bandanna, covering my bright blonde hair.

A flash of a bulb signalled that the photographer was finished. Getting up I walked over to him.

"We're finished," he began. "Now you need to attach this to your registration form-" He started to continue before I waved my hand in front of me.

"I know how to register, but thank you for the thought," I said, holding out my hand to accept the photograph.

Giving me a squinting stare, he passed it over. I gave him a nod of acknowledgement and started my jog over to the Hokage tower.

_-Naruto: Fractured Fate-_

"Ah, Naruto-kun. Please come in," I heard from the other side of the door I was about to knock on.

'_Well, that's creepy,_' I thought as I slid the old door open. In the middle of the room was a single chair facing a long desk at one end of the room, where a very plain man sat, and a legend who had long since died.

'_How could I have forgotten about the old man?_' It was true however. Not once since I… well, not since I started the academy have I thought about the old man.

After several seconds the old man's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Don't worry about that, you'll get there soon enough."

"What?" I said, wondering if he reached some level of telepathy when I wasn't looking.

Frowning, Sarutobi leaned forward a bit, and turned his head to look me in the eye.

"The ability to sense chakra at short distances is generally a mid Genin level skill. You might manage it by yourself soon."

He paused for a few seconds here, before raising an aged eyebrow inquisitively. "It's how I knew you were on the other side of the door."

"Oh Right. Yeah, that," I stammered, thankful for the excuse to cover my earlier pause, before thinking harder on what he said. "Really? That can happen soon?"

"Indeed, Naruto-kun. Now, why are you here?" the old man asked, bringing me back to the matter at hand.

"I am here to turn in my shinobi registration form," I said handing him a folder containing all the allotted papers.

"Very well, sit down." Sarutobi responded, pointing to the chair in the middle of the room. Nodding my acceptance I eased into the chair, body still sore from the previous awkward and busy days.

I waited while the Hokage looked over the file with what seemed to be great care. I turned my attention to the man sitting at the desk with him. He had on a weird hat that looked kinda of like a straw farmer's hat, but made out of some sort of canvas or felt and with a much smaller brim. It was a pale colour, maybe peach, with a blue stripe around it. The rest of his outfit was rather standard. Black shirt and pants, Chuunin vest and sandals. Strange thing was, he had an out of place vacant expression on his face. As if nothing going on around him was worth as much attention as the wall he was staring at. '_Like a less perverted Kakashi, I guess._'

I heard a throat clearing, and I redirected my attention towards the noise, only to find it was the old man lighting his famous pipe.

After giving his pipe a few necessary puffs, he turned his attention back towards me.

"It is good to see that you took your photo seriously. A few of you classmates weren't as professional."

Remembering my own experiences, I ventured a guess as to what someone had done.

"What, did someone doodle marker all over their face or something?"

A dry chuckle rasped out of his throat before he responded. "One person, yes."

Giving my files a last look, he set it aside and levelled his gaze at me. "Everything seems to be in order. As long as you remember to show up for team selection tomorrow, then there should be no problem-" he stopped talking immediately before glancing sharply at the door. Turning my head quickly, I heard the door opening and my gaze fell upon...

Konohamaru Sarutobi.

"Old Man! Get ready to fight!" he yelled in a high pitched voice, before charging at his grandfather, brandishing a shuriken.

"I'm going to be the Fifth Hokage- ARRRGGGHHH" he started to yell before falling flat on his face.

Finding myself once again bewildered, I watched as Konohamaru curled up into a fetal position, holding his injured face. At this point, a shinobi with an entirely black outfit and an odd set of sunglasses stopped in the door frame and gave a shout of "Honourable Grandson!"

"Drat!" Konohamaru swore, struggling to stand on his two small feet. "Is this a trap?"

"Are you alright, Honourable Grandson? May I just inform you that there are no traps in this room…" the black clad Jounin, Ebisu, began, before seeing me, still sitting in my chair. The emotion on his face at that point went from surprise, to shock, right before settling into a nice degrading leer. '_Couldn't even finish a lecture while I'm in the room, could you? Asshole. Fucking Closet pervert._'

My attention shifted back over to Konohamaru as he stepped closer to me.

"You must have done this to me!" he shouted, pointing an accusing finger not three inches from my face.

"No, I didn't," I ground out before giving a glance over at Ebisu "And I don't take kindly to being blamed for things I haven't done."

The closet pervert rocked his head back at the veiled accusation that went soaring neatly over Konohamaru's head.

"Liar! You tripped me because you don't want me to succeed! Apologize!" Konohamaru screamed out, jabbing his finger with a renewed fury.

Giving Konohamaru a disparaging glance, I stood up and walked towards the door. "Yes, of course, Your Eminence. I shall go and write down my apology to the Sarutobi clan for the grave injustice of watching you trip over your own stupidly long and impractical scarf," I said, sarcasm practically dripping from my mouth as I pushed past Ebisu and walked out the door. Closing the door behind me, I heard a high pitched voice ask, "He's not going to apologize, is he?"

Stifling a much needed chuckle, I walked out the doors of the Hokage tower.

_-Naruto: Fractured Fate-_

Walking down a nondescript Konoha street, I heard a pitter pattering of tiny feet behind me. Turning around, I saw a ball of fabric, coloured the same pale brown as the road beneath it, and two sandalled feet sticking out of the cloth. Shaking my head in disappointment, I walked forward for another 40 feet or so, every few seconds hearing a flurry of steps as Konohamaru tried to remain 'inconspicuous'. '_I have way too much on my plate recently to deal with this now,_' I thought before turning right and heading down an equally unoccupied side street. Putting my foot against the wall of the building on my right, I pushed chakra to the bottom of my sandal. '_Please let this work._'

SKILL CHECK (CHAKRA CONTROL 51/35) PASSED

150 XP AWARDED

PERK GAINED: **DOES WHATEVER A NINJA CAN**

'_And he sticks the… step?_' I thought before walking up the side of the building. I looked down to see Konohamaru running below me. He looked around with exaggerated movements, before turning around to see if I had doubled back on him. He ran back and forth a few times before yelling incomprehensibly in anger. He stayed angry for a few moments before I rolled my eyes and gave in to the inevitable.

"Having some trouble down there?"

He just about jumped out of his skin. Looking around rapidly, he must have peered in every direction but up. I decided to have a little more fun at his expense, and gave a choice quote from Jiraiya, perverted hermit that he was.

"I hear they make a cream for that these days."

At that point Konohamaru looked slowly up with shocked eyes. Seeing the smug look on my face, his mouth worked for a few moments before finally asking a – somewhat – halfway intelligent question.

"How are you _doing_ that?"

"Oh, this?" I played off his amazement. "This is just a simple chakra exercise. Any shinobi, worth their salt can do this."

His eyes lit up with wonder and determination.

"Okay. I allow you to make me your apprentice, if you show me how to do that."

I turned my head inquisitively. "And why would I do that? 15 minutes ago it was all, 'You want to keep me from being Hokage', and now that I've done something cool all is forgiven?"

"But boss," he started before I interrupted him.

"Nothing is being taught to anyone before the lesson of humility. I ask of you what you demanded of me," I said grandiosely to his apparent confusion. After about ten seconds of him blinking at me, I sighed walked back down the building's side, and offered him an explanation. "I asking for your apology."

His mouth worked for a couple of seconds before setting into a firm and sour frown, looking down and away from me. "Fine."

"What was that?" I responded innocently.

"I said 'Fine.' I'm sorry for calling you a liar and saying you tripped me," he barked back bitterly.

"Awesome," I said back in an upbeat voice. "Now, let's go do something cool."

Setting back off down the street with Konohamaru at my side I turned my head and posed him a question.

"So tell me, Kono-chan, what do you know about chakra?"

_-Naruto: Fractured Fate-_

Around seven o'clock in the evening, a sweaty, panting, and exhausted Konohamaru collapsed at the base a large Oak tree.

"Not bad for a first day, little Kono-chan," I said, looking at the mark made a third of the way up the tree. "Much better than myself when I was learning this."

He spared me a small glance before going back to lying in a pile and trying to catch his breath.

We had been working on his control over the leaf sticking exercise for most of the morning and early afternoon. When he finally got it down, he set right to trying to master the tree climbing exercise. Now he was feeling the effects of the early stages of chakra exhaustion.

I helped him to his feet, handing him a healthy fitness drink, I steered him towards a log where we both could sit down.

After a few minutes of silence, I echoed my past self from so long ago.

"You seem pretty obsessed with beating your grandpa."

He looked at me curiously then, before staring back at the ground with a frown.

"My name is Konohamaru," he said. "It was my grandpa who gave me that name. He named me after the village."

I patiently sat, waiting for the ryo to drop.

"It should be pretty easy for everyone to remember. But nobody ever calls me by that name. When they see me, all they see is the grandson of the Hokage. No one sees me for who I really am. I can't stand it anymore. That's why…" he said clenching his little fists, crushing the fitness drink. "That's why I want the title of Lord Hokage right now."

I shook my head at this. "Idiot, who do you think will accept you?"

He looked up sharply at me, as if insulted.

"You can't win the title that easily, you know."

He jumped to his feet this time, with a cry of "What?!"

"You're four steps away from being Hokage."

Silently looking on, begging me to continue my explanation, I motioned for him to sit down.

"First, you have to become a shinobi, as only ninja can be a Kage. To help with that step, brush up on your general knowledge on _all_ subjects, and improve your chakra control. Next you need to become a legend, something that people will talk about all over the world and long past your death. To help with this step, you need to improve your chakra reserves, your tactical knowledge, and you need to develop a style all your own. Third, the people, the villagers. You need to get them to love you, adore you, idolize you even. Make it so that in their eyes you can do no wrong, and you will be trusted with a position where everything can go wrong. And fourth," I said, a growing smirk covering my face, "Fourth, you will need to beat me for the position."

He stared at me for a long time after that, letting my words sink in. Then he gave a small nod, before sitting down.

_-Naruto: Fractured Fate-_

Some time later, Konohamaru and I were both sitting on the very same log when we heard a voice from behind us.

"I have found you!"

Looking around, I saw Ebisu standing on a branch about twenty feet above me. And he had that stupid fucking 'You're the demon fox so that makes me better than you' look.

'_Really? Again? As if this asshole doesn't have better things to do in his day than to ruin mine,_' I thought, frustrated. I started to stand up, and turned to face him.

"Honourable grandson, we have to go now."

Konohamaru shook his head vigorously, clenching tiny hands in front of him before shouting out, "No way! I want to beat grandpa right now so I can win the title of Lord Hokage!"

I placed a hand on his shoulder, letting out a simple, "No."

They both stopped at that remark, so I turned Konohamaru around and looked him in the eye.

"This is a long and dangerous path that we're setting out on. It is filled with the blood, sweat and tears of our labours, and we will most likely not be the same men we were once we started. We'll lose battles, loved ones, men and women under our command, and when the pressure is on, and war is looming, we will be alone, making the hard decisions that no one else can make, with fewer options and less time as the walls close in on us. This is the path, the trial of being Hokage. It is long, and it is hard. But if there is one thing about this path that makes it the most difficult, it is this. There are no short cuts."

Letting him soak it in again, I patted him on the head, before saying. "Step one, become a shinobi."

He gave a terse little nod then before walking over to his teacher. Stopping when he was almost all the way over, he turned and shouted at me, "I'm no longer you're apprentice! From now on, you're my rival!"

I chuckled a bit at this before shouting back, "Then I'll see you at the top!" I turned, and started the long walk back to my apartment.

_Flashback ends_

I chuckled a bit more, remembering the look on Konohamaru's face when he tripped on his scarf.

I watched as the game of tag that the boys in front had started was beginning to dissolve into a fist fight. When it started to get bad though, in walked a familiar face.

Iruka-sensei walked stiffly into the room, reprimanding the boys fighting as he went, before standing in front of the class calling everyone to sit down.

"Hello again students, or should I say graduates?"

A round of whooping greeted this from the more energetic members of my group. After they quieted down, he continued. "As of today, you are fully fledged ninja. But you are all still Genin. The tough part is still to come. From now on, you will be placed into a squad of three, to carry out missions under the watch of your sensei."

Taking a final glance around the classroom, he finished his short speech. "And I will now read off your names according to the teams you will be placed in."

" Team 1…"

'_And now comes the reunification of Team 7. Now that I'm not the dead last, I'm going to show Sakura how good I can be. I'm going to show Sasuke that revenge isn't the only purpose there is in life. I am going to take back my old friends, and we are going to kick so much more ass than ever before. To start, we're gonna beat that stupid bell test, hands down._'

"Team 7," I perked up, waiting for the call that would signal a return of sorts to something familiar. "Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Hoshi Arakida."

My eyes went wide and my jaw dropped. _'Again? Is nothing going to be the same? I won't even have the same group of friends this time around! Why am I not in same team as Sakura and the bastard?_'

"Sasuke has the best grades of all the graduates, and you, Hoshi are the dead last," Iruka said to Hoshi, amidst many snide remarks and much mocking laughter.

'_So the same thing that's making me so much better at what I would have done with Team 7 is also not allowing me to be _on_ Team 7,_' I thought, shaking my head in despair. '_I can _taste_ the irony._'

"Moving right along, Team 8. Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame."

'_Well, at least that is the same._'

"Team 9, Naruto Uzumaki, Ami Aizawa, and Hibachi Takahama."

'_And of all the people to get paired up with, I have the guy who tried to kill me, and the bitch of the playground. Oh yeah, this is going to be great,_' I thought sarcastically.

"Team 10, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akimichi. And that concludes team selection. You are dismissed for one hour for lunch, and once you all return, I'll introduce you to your sensei. Dismissed," Iruka finished before himself walking back out the door.

_-Naruto: Fractured Fate-_

On the way out of the Academy building, I saw Hinata walking down the street with her soon to be team. I called out to her and rushed over.

'_All right, just like we practised. And remember to _lie_._'

Catching up to them, I shouted again for Hinata, who jumped about a foot into the air before turning around quickly.

Stopping a couple of feet from her, I rubbed the back of my neck with nervous excitement.

"Hey Hinata, now that everybody is graduated and moving on to teams, I kinda realize that I don't really know some people all that well. So I was wondering if you would like to hang out sometime, maybe go to the Ichiraku's… or somewhere else, if you want." After a few seconds of Hinata getting increasingly red, and me as well, I interjected – more like shouted in hindsight – the silence with another thought. "Or not! You don't have to if you don't want to. I was just thinking-"

And that was about as far as I got before Hinata nodded furiously, but then the resulting blood flow from her nodding her head so fast accelerated the faint which she found herself in.

Kiba, Shino and I stared as Hinata collapsed to the ground. Looking at each other, I posed a question to the bewildered group.

"So... does that count as a yes, or a no?"

QUEST UPDATED: A SPOT OF SUNSHINE

-TALK TO HINATA

-TAKE HINATA ON A DATE

I stopped doing everything for a few seconds, as my mind, improved even as it was, struggled to catch up with floating words in front of me. All too soon, however, I realized the implications.

"_A date?_"

_-Naruto: Fractured Fate-_

After helping Hinata's teammates carry her to the restaurant where they planned to eat, I ate some ramen made by the Ichiraku's and proceeded to head back to the classroom where my 'team' was waiting.

I waited for the rest of the class to filter in, ignoring the looks I was getting from Hibachi and Ami, who were sitting together. I saw Hinata come in with Kiba and Shino ten minutes before the lunch break ended. I tried to catch her eye, but her face flushed and she ducked her head. Giving a small sigh, I waited the ten minutes, growing increasingly bored. Eventually they did all filter in, with everyone dividing up into their new teams. Except for me and the bastard Sasuke, but who cared about that emo?

Soon after, the newly minted graduates had all filtered in, and Iruka walked in.

"Welcome back, good to see that we are all here. Now, I am going to introduce all of you to your sensei. We'll be going in order, so Team 1 is first, 2 is second 3 is third, and so on and so forth. When your teams' sensei introduces themselves, that team will get up, and leave the room with them. Understood?" Glancing around to see if anyone had any questions, he continued his spiel. "Very well, without further ado, Team 1's sensei."

The door opened to reveal a man dressed in a typical Jounin uniform, save for the sword he wore, the bandanna covering his brown hair, and the senbon between his teeth.

"Hello class," he began in a bored voice, "My name is Genma Shiranui, and as Iruka said, I am Team 1's sensei."

And so it went, with the different teams eager to see who was going to be their sensei. I saw a few familiar faces, and a few slightly unfamiliar ones, of ninja I had seen around the village in my 'past life'. Nothing got really interesting until Team 7's sensei was called for.

"Team 7's sensei," Iruka said, gesturing towards the door. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he repeated himself. "Team 7's sensei?" After a few more moments of awkward silence, a barely withheld snicker sent the class pealing into stifled laughter.

A vein pulsing angrily on his forehead, Iruka stalked over to the door, ripping it open before calling out into the hallway. "_Kakashi Hatake!_"

At this point, the laughter from the kids in the class was no longer stifled. At least it wasn't until Iruka poked his head back inside and with a rage and torment filled voice, screamed. "_Sit down and shut up!_"

They quieted quickly after that. He quickly called in Hinata's sensei, Kurenai Yuhi

'This is it, the moment of truth.'

Iruka gestured at the door once again. "Team 9's sensei."

The door slid open to reveal a … person that I thought, and hoped, and prayed, I would never see again.

'_No,nononononnono. This isn't happening. This is a dream. I am going to wake up and everything will be nice and fluffy. Or I should start reviewing the 'I am in hell' option again._'

She stood in front of the class, decency barely concealed underneath a mesh undershirt, shorts and her trademark tan trench coat. A rough pony tail of dark purple hair stuck out from the back of her head. But most menacing of all, was the eyes that spoke of mischief and murder, gleaming at me over an over-chewed stick of dango.

"Hello, kiddies," purred the former Chuunin exam proctor. "You're gonna have some _fun_ times with aunty Anko Mitarashi."

'Well, fuck me sideways.'

_-Naruto Fractured Fate-_

Authors Note: Who saw that one coming? Well a few of you did, and good for you (You get Internet Cookies). For those who didn't, please review and tell me what you would like to see, or what you think might happen in the upcoming chapters, next chapter is Survival Training. Still working on it, should be done soon. Good to see a lot of feedback guys, but remember keep reviewing, and keep your author happy! ;)

Once again a big thanks to HTM for Beta…ing.

**Editor's note:**

Anko? Anko as a sensei? I...

I'm definitely not complaining. The world needs more crazy bitches, I say! 8D

That aside, I must say that it's fun so far. Let's all hope that the ride will be as fun as it has been, eh? Eh? Yes. Eh.

Also, "BITCH I EAT PEOPLE!"

Thank you, Team4Star! :D


	6. Survival Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or the game(s) Fallout 3/New Vegas. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto, and Bethesda Softworks respectively… I am just having some fun!

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

_Last time on Naruto: Fractured fate._

"Hello, kiddies," the former Chuunin exam proctor purred. "You're gonna have some _fun_times with aunty Anko Mitarashi."

'_Well, fuck me sideways._'

_Present:_

I stood in the lobby of the Academy, having already watched the other teams leave – aside from Team 7, of course – thinking about everything that had happened in this game world, this bizarre alternate reality that I have found myself in.

First, I _accidentally_ increased my intelligence, keeping most everything else the same, except for Perception, to my great regret.

Then I found that my increased Intelligence has resulted in me becoming one of the top students in the class.

Next came chakra control, which drastically increased. I believe it was because of the points I put into my Intelligence when I levelled up, and it was increased even more because of that super special ramen bowl that I found.

This all cumulated in the effect of my graduation.

Then, because of my increased Intelligence and and my graduation, Mizuki passed me by for doing his dirty work and retrieving the scroll for him, ergo preventing me from utilizing the shadow clone in both this and later endeavours.

Also, due to my graduation and excellent grades, I have been placed on a team without any of my old friends.

On top of all of that I have found out about my clan, my mother's status as a Jinchuuriki, Hinata liking me, and that bastard Sasuke.

I shook my head sombrely. '_It's been a tough week. And knowing my luck..._'

I looked out the nearest window onto the somewhat busy street outside, trying to calm myself as another thought dawned upon me. '_And now_,' I thought, gripping tightly onto the window sill. '_I have to perform with a squad that at the least despises me, and at most will actively try to kill me while under a definitely insane, possibly nymphomaniacal sensei, all the while being in the _Forest of Death_!_'

_**Flashback!**_

_Quest added: Making the grade_

_-Speak with your new sensei_

A quest flashed by as Anko… sensei, I guess, led us three out to the lobby before having us take a seat on the floor. After grabbing an actual seat for herself she began speaking in an overly nice tone.

"So, my name is Anko Mitarashi, but from now on that's Anko-sensei, or Mitarashi-sensei, okay?" she asked, pointing her finger at us. I nodded my head slowly, waiting for the other psychopathic shoe to drop. Satisfied with my nodding, and those of my teammates', Anko-sensei continued.

"Good, now, when I was still in my training bra, like you three, I graduated at the top of my class at everything. Taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu, there was nothing the Academy had that I wasn't good at."

I leaned forward, my brow creasing and revealing my interest in a story I had virtually never heard before. "I was trained by one of the Sannin, and chosen to be the best amongst my peers."

She seemed to have some difficulty revealing this information, choking up slightly as she spoke the words with a faintly bitter note. "What I learned off of him inspired my later ninjutsu, weapons handling, taijutsu and even helped me to become well suited to the areas of information retrieval and assassination. After I attained the rank of Special Jounin, I spent several years in the TI department of Konoha, ferreting out all of the information that missing-nin and enemies of the state had hidden away. I worked up quite the reputation for myself. Then, one day, I woke up, and decided that it was time to move forward with my career. So I put myself through some intense training, learned a new nature transformation, brushed up on my sealing techniques and here I am, a fully-fledged Jounin, taking you adorable little ones under my wing," she finished, eyes twinkling with mischief, a grin promising bloodshed on her lips.

Any sane man would be scared, especially so if they knew some of the things Anko-sensei didn't say. Like that curse mark that Sasuke also wore, and how the Sannin mentioned in her narrative was in fact the treacherous Orochimaru, or even the fact that TI stood for Torture and Interrogation. Me, though? I lost my sanity long before I lost my life.

'_Why is she different? Last time, she was still a Special Jounin during the Chuunin Exams. What happened, what changed that? And why is she buddying up to us?_' I thought, ignoring the deceivingly innocent looking maniac in front of me. '_Is it because she is a Jounin? Or that she is taking in people under her wing and old man Hokage wants to make sure that we grow up without being too traumatized?_'

A quick thought about two green clad Taijutsu specialists dispelled that line of thought.

'_Nothing to do but wait and see._'

"Now it's your turn!" Anko said, suddenly pointing at the person to my left. "Tell everyone a little bit about yourself."

Staring for a moment, Hibachi scratched his head dumbly. "Like what?"

Anko rolled her eyes, as she leaned back and answered his stupid question.

"Oh you know, specializations, favourite colour, your dream as a ninja, whatever stabs your enemy," she finished with a shrug.

Understanding shone dimly in his eyes as he answered. "Oh! Well, I'm Hibachi Takahama, my favourite colour is tan, and my dream is to be a Jounin!"

After a few seconds of everyone waiting, he continued. "Oh, Yeah! And my specializations are in ranged combat, and infiltration."

Anko nodded at his spiel and looked to me. "Okay, blondie, you're up."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I specialize in speech, chakra control and ninjutsu, but I'm also pretty good with seals, close combat, both unarmed and armed, ranged combat, stealth, and general repairs," I said, Anko giving a throaty sound of appreciation. "I like ramen and training. I dislike disloyal people, vegetables, and bullies. My dream is to become strong enough to gain recognition for my own achievements, protect my precious people and become the strongest Hokage that ever lived," I finished, not looking at my companions. Anko nodded appreciatively before a smirk crossed her face.

"Lofty goal, Genin. You sure you have what it takes?" she asked, leaning forward.

"Absolutely," I returned, looking her in the eye, before allowing a smile to grace my face. "I'm already on the first step."

Anko gave a smirking nod before pointing at Ami to my right.

"Now you, poser."

Ami turned a bright shade of red at this remark. "Poser?!" she shrieked. "How am I a poser?"

Anko-sensei pointed to her purple ponytail. "See this hair? You really can't find hair this colour anywhere in the Elemental Countries, let alone Konoha. So when a flat chested little Genin like you comes up with the same fucking hair colour as me, they get called a poser," sensei finished icily, glaring at the little girl.

'_Well, that was kind of intense. Was that even really necessary?_' I thought before remembering how much of a bitch Ami could be when she got a full head of steam. '_Okay, so maybe it is a bit necessary._'

"Tell me and your team about yourself," my purple haired instructor sneered at the girl before her.

"W-well," she started off much less confident that she would have been before sensei, "My name is Ami Aizawa. I graduated about middle of the class. My dream is to become an ANBU like-"

"Stop!" Anko interjected, cutting off Ami's line of thought. "Vocally revealing the identity of a member of ANBU is violating a B-rank secret, punishable by 50,000 ryo fine and-or up to 15 years in prison," sensei said, much to the astonishment of her team. "Don't _ever_ do something as fucking stupid as that again, do you get me?"

"U-u-understood, sensei" Ami said, nervousness clearly heard in her voice.

"Good. Continue."

Nodding nervously, Ami swallowed loudly before continuing. "W-well, my dream is to be an ANBU, and I specialize with one handed swords, genjutsu, and integrating with a target person or group."

Anko gave one of her bloodthirsty smiles when Ami finished talking.

"Good. Now that we all know each other a bit, I have something important to tell you."

Here she leaned forward, putting her hand to her mouth, as if to reveal some great secret in a stage whisper. "You're not Genin yet."

Hibachi was continuing to stare dumbly, and Ami at this point seemed to terrified of both our newest sensei and the fact that everything that she had gone through up to this point might mean nothing, so I took it upon myself to speak up. I inclined my chin, as if having some realization. "A test to prove our competence as a unit?"

Anko closed her eyes as she smiled, making it seem all the wider, as if it stretched her face. "Not quite, blondie, but close, so good little Genin," she said, ruffling my hair.

Hibachi spoke up now. "Wait, I thought that we already had the test to make Genin. We had a whole day for the big test, and then graduation parties later."

"That test was to see if you are even really worth the headbands you're wearing. _This _test is to see if you are worth being taught by me, Anko Mitarashi, sexy Jounin instructor, and legendary interrogation and torture specialist!" She stood at the end, assuming the 'Nice Guy' pose.

'_I never thought that those words would ever be put in that pose,_' I thought as Hibachi and Ami struggled to come to grips with what they just heard.

"Interrogation and Torture?" Ami asked, words tumbling from numb lips.

Glancing over at her, I turned back to sensei, who was sitting back down now.

"I think you broke her," I deadpanned, earning a barking laugh from my new sensei. She looked back and forth to make sure none of us would interrupt her before continuing her explanation of the test.

"You will all show up tomorrow, at oh-six-hundred, for survival training in training ground 44, known to all the locals as the Forest of Death. Be sure to pack light, kiddies!"

And with that parting remark, she disappeared in a puff of smoke and a few scattered leaves.

_Quest updated: Making the grade_

_-__Talk to your new sensei_

_-Meet the rest of Team 9 outside the Forest of Death at 0600_

"She doesn't actually expect us to take a test in a place called the Forest of Death, does she?" I heard from Ami, breaking my eyes away from the updated quest. Pivoting my head, I attempted to put as much contempt and hatred as I could possibly ever feel towards her into a single look in attempt to make her understand exactly how dumb her question was.

She squinted back at me. "Are you pouting?"

'My look needs work,' I thought, standing up. "In all likelihood, we will probably have the test there, yes," I stated, looking back to my teammates. "The word on the grapevine is that Mitarashi-sensei is rather fond of the place."

Throwing her arms in the air, Ami make her opinion known to all around. "_Of _course she is! How could I have been so dumb as to hope that the _t__orture_ specialist didn't like _torturing_ others?!"

Giving an idle shrug, I responded to her rhetorical question. "Beats me, seeing as how that is all torture specialists do."

As an afterthought I added "Unless they have a willing victim."

Hibachi started to stare now. "How can you take all of this like that? Our sensei can get really angry for like no reason, we're not even really Genin, and the place where we're going to be taking a test tomorrow is called the Forest of Death!"

Shocked at Hibachi's somewhat intelligent question, I took a moment to compose myself. "Two reasons," I began. "First, it seems everything related to ninja is named in a foreboding manner. The Forbidden Scroll, the Forest of Death, the Cliffs of Insanity, Blood Screech Cavern, to name a few. It seems if it isn't threatening to kill you, it isn't worth noting or noticing. Second," I said before thinking of my life over the past week. "I've had weirder stuff happen."

Hibachi stared incredulously for a moment before Ami gave another opinion on the situation.

"Fuck this. I'm going home," she said before hastily striding out the door.

Looking back to me, Hibachi shrugged before letting off a lazym "See you tomorrow, I guess," and went for the door himself.

Turning around, I looked out the window as they both walked away from the Academy, trailing several other groups that had already been let out.

I gave my head a shake, putting my hands on the window sill, before thinking.

'Oh yeah, this is gonna end swell.'

_**End flashback!**_

"Just found out you're not a Genin, huh?" a lazy voice said beside me.

I turned to find the voice's owner, and stood face to porn with my old sensei. 'Kami, the last time I saw him, he was begging for a miracle over my dead body,' I fought to keep my voice even as I replied.

"Hatake-san."

"Now, now, you can call me Kakashi if you want," he spoke through his mask, eyes never leaving the page of his special erotica. I gave a nod of acknowledgement before answering his first question, with a simple, "Understood, Kakashi-san."

"I wouldn't really worry about that," Kakashi-sensei said, flipping a page. "Talented kid like you should make it through that test no problem."

At this point I was starting to get suspicious. '_Kakashi virtually never acknowledged me back in my original life, so why is he so keen to do it now?_'

After a few moments of thought during which I turned back to the window, I had only a spattering of inconceivable answers, each more so than the last, and one of which involved body snatchers, another involving a class prank.

Staring out the window, I queried the silver haired pervert. "Why are you here talking to me, Kakashi-san? Do you not have a team with whom you should be speaking with?"

"Hmm?" Kakashi mumbled, taking a quick glance up at me for the first time during the few moments we had been talking. "Oh, I'll get to them in a bit. Just giving them some time to get to know each other."

'_He answers one question and ignores the other._'

"Did they not have the entire duration of their time in the Academy to get to know each other?"

Kakashi-sensei gave a shrug before flipping another page, his attention back to whatever ero-sennin wrote in his porn. "They knew each other before now as academy students, but they have never known each other as ninja."

Surprised at the surprisingly deep answer from Kakashi, I took a minute before replying. "You still haven't answered my question."

"What was it again?" Kakashi replied lazily.

"It was, 'Why are you here, talking to me?'" I spat out through gritted teeth, losing patience with his cool act. It was all I could do not to scream at him.

"Hmm," he said noncommittally, flipping another page in his stupid orange book. He waited for a couple of minutes letting me stew, before finally answering. "I did answer that."

"No, you gave some answer to my other question about why you're leaving your team alone, but nothing about why you're talking to me," I said bitingly before taking a breath to calm myself. '_Why am I angry with him?_'

"Both answers are the same," he replied, looking up at me again. "I needed to do something while I'm waiting for my students. You were here." He gave a shrug at the end.

'_He's talking to me because I'm CONVENIENT?_' I raged mentally.

"Very well then Kakashi-san," I ground out, making my way towards the door. "I'll keep you from your team no longer.

I heard a grunt of acknowledgement as I stepped outside, beginning the trek back to my apartment. Making out a schedule for the rest of my night, I thought to myself. '_Ichiraku's to cool down from Kakashi's stupid arguments, packing everything I need for tomorrow, and then some sleep. It's going to be a long day._'

Changing course to head to my favourite restaurant, I put my arms behind my head, thinking about the morrow.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

It was around 5 o'clock in the morning, and I had already prepared for the day ahead of me. I had donned what I was quickly coming to refer to as my 'shinobi outfit', consisting of my goggles, my forehead protector, a pair of sandals, dark green pants and dark blue shirt. Why not go with the best colour of the entire spectrum? Because I wore it to grab the attention of everyone around me and on missions, that same ability to stick out like a sore thumb could be extremely detrimental. So I would wear dark colours, not blacks – wearing black at night makes you a silhouette, and during the day it makes you stick out like a turd on a busy market street on a hot summer day – to aid in blending in to my surroundings. '_And in this case, wearing orange will bring out the wrong kind of attention._'

On my bed I had laid out all of the equipment I would have with me. Two spools of ninja wire, four exploding tags, two D-ranked equipment pouches filled with ten shuriken and five kunai each – all D-ranked, or so I was told by my Inventory. Aside from that small arsenal, all I had left was just the odd shuriken or kunai that I kept around my apartment in case I needed to reload my pouches, or just in case one of the people who graffiti my apartment decide to get a bit bolder than usual. Making an appearance on the bed was a small backpack that would contain several canteens of water, and a few packs of rations. '_No ramen though, unfortunately, but these bars could be eaten cold in lieu of a meal and without the mess of a fire, and honestly, I don't even expect to be out there that long anyway._'

Taking another glance at my equipment, making sure everything was up to par, I began to equip myself, spools of wire in my sleeves, pouches on my thighs, where my arms could reach them easily, backpack full and firmly positioned, and exploding tags in a hip pocket, right above where I had my weapons pouches. '_You never know when you need more fire power than is necessary._'

Taking a moment to gather myself, I headed out the door, off to take another test to be a Genin.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

The chain link gate to the Forest of Death was still closed when I arrived early. I walked to one of the tall rocks that marked the entrance _to_ the entrance to the Forest of Death, walked to the top of it, and settled in for a quick nap, expecting the same gig as the last time I took this test. For sensei to show up a good two to four hours after the allotted time, then the bell test, then lunch, and after that, we'd all scatter, bragging to teams less fortunate than us. Laying my head back on my backpack I closed my eyes as I tried to get some more shut-eye.

A sharp pain in my signalled my return to full wakefulness as I went flying off of the rock that I had been on. Thankfully, I controlled my fall enough to roll at the end, lessening the impact. It still hurt like a bitch though.

'_And speaking of bitch…_' I thought, standing up to see who kicked me off my mound.

"No sleeping on the job, brat!" the tan cloaked woman shouted before throwing the backpack at me and jumping down herself.

"The hell were you thinking, brat? I said be here at oh-six-hundred for a training exercise, and I mean it _starts_ then!" she exclaimed at me, eyebrows arching.

'_She's either displeased by my sleeping, or she hasn't stabbed anything yet today,_' I thought before answering.

"I'm sorry, sensei, but I thought that you would be late and that the test wouldn't actually begin until later," I apologized quickly, bowing my head as I did so.

She started to smile with her eyebrows still arched.

'_Oh, I am so going to get stabbed… or cut. Regardless, blood will be shed._'

Before my morbid thoughts could become reality and death, a call distracted both Anko-sensei and me.

"Made it!" a voice called out from a short distance.

Looking to the noise in question, sensei and I both were treated to the sight of Ami dragging Hibachi into the clearing, both were sweating slightly and panting, likely from having had to run to make it on time.

Anko shook her head, strutting away from all of us.

"This is disappointing, kiddies," Anko said, before turning to face us, hand on hip. "You two almost show up late, and blondie here showed up on time, but then couldn't stay awake before we started."

Shaking her head some more, she started walking back to us, arms now crossed underneath her bountiful – '_And barely clothed..._' – breasts. "You're not impressing me with your actions."

She scanned our eyes now. "This test is all about seeing if you're actually worthy, and you start off late, and _napping_!"

Properly shaken now, we looked on as Mitarashi-sensei, clenched her fists and began to smile a wicked smile.

"Well, there'll be no doing that soon."

Walking past us, towards the Forest of Death, sensei announced, "Okay, little ankle-biters, here's your objective! This is the Forest of Death! In here are some of the fiercest, most dangerous and most poisonous animals in Fire Country, possibly the world. You will all be inside its boundaries for one whole week. If you exit the premises at any time, you fail. If at any time you die, you fail. Those left standing at the end of the week I will take as my team, or apprentice. And just to make this more interesting, and because of your _laziness_," she turned to face us now, that cruel smirk firmly planted in my direction, "Turn over your weapon pouches."

"But sensei, h-" was as far as Ami got before being roughly backhanded by Anko. Rubbing her now bright red cheek, and looking up at Anko's smirk, Ami must have thought better of it than to present further protest, surrendering her weapons pouch. Giving Ami a little head pat, Anko-sensei extended her hand towards Hibachi next. He looked like he was about to say something before thinking better of it as well, surrendering his weapons as well. By the time sensei got to me, I was already detaching my weapons containers. When I got them off though, a thought occurred. Before sensei took my weapons, I quickly grabbed as many kunai out of one of my pouches. Her smile froze on her face, before turning absolutely predatory.

"Oh? And what do you think you're doing?"

"Giving you my weapons pouches, sensei," I responded, before giving my outstretched arm and its weapons pouches a jangle. "Here they are," I finished.

The scantily clad snake summoner gave a throaty chuckle before accepting my pouches and, apparently, my explanation.

Sensei started to walk away from us back towards the village, before stopping to toss us an incredulous look.

"Well? Test has started! Get going!" she shouted back at us before disappearing in a Shunshin.

_Quest updated: Making the grade_

_-__Talk to your new sensei_

_-Meet the rest of Team 9 outside the Forest of Death at 0600_

_-Survive with your team for one week in the Forest of Death_

'_Here we go again,_' I thought before shouldering my pack and leading them into a place I had foolishly hoped never to visit again.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

So, just in case anyone was wondering, day one sucked major balls.

After entering the forest main, we were almost immediately separated. Not by a giant beast, or some mass of rats, or even a pack of Leaping Leeches. We were separated because of politics.

"I remember there being a tower in the center of the Forest of Death, where there sometimes the Chuunin Exams are held. First we should try to see if we can get in there. Barring that, we should find somewhere where we can set up a semi-permanent camp, close to water, with a number of trees for cover or replacements if necessary. Now if I remember correctly, a river should run directly through this training field, giving us a number of locations to choose from," I explained, leading my group in what I knew to be the right direction.

"And just who put you in charge?" came a snarky remark from our resident teen bitch.

Looking back at her, I raised an eyebrow. "I believed that it was universally understood. Hibachi isn't going to do it, because he has just been kind of following everyone else. And you weren't going to do it because you would spend more time yapping about something rather than doing something relevant immediately. Case in point? This discussion we are presently having," I explained before continuing to move forward.

"I am _asking_ a pertinent fucking question!" Ami shouted tersely before stomping over to me. "I don't think you should be in charge of this team. You are always off on your own, doing pranks or studying kami knows what! A leader needs to have the right attitude, not be a stupid loner!"

Stopping again, I cocked my head to the side, as if thinking about what she said. "I would dispute any number of points in that statement, like 'what do you think the Uchiha was doing?' or 'I think you're confusing leadership and bull-headedness', but instead I'll just settle for this. A leader also needs to know when to take command, and when pointless arguments are actually impeding progress. Once again, I present this argument as evidence," I continued walking, praying to whomever may have been listening-

"_And _they know when they need to step up and take command from an unruly subordinate!"

-that those assholes would burn in the fires of the same pit that they have seemingly chucked me into.

Whipping back around with an angry retort on my lips, Ami beat me to the punch.

"So I'll tell you what, let's have a vote for who's in charge. And I vote for yours truly!"

I shook my head in exasperation, already knowing how this was going to play out. "And I'll vote for yours truly."

Simultaneously, Ami and I both turned to Hibachi who nodded his head and said, "I agree."

Torn between sighing and laughing, I almost missed Ami growing steadily red-faced before stalking away from us, shouting back over her shoulder, "Fine! I don't need you anyway!"

_Special Check (Charisma 3/5) – Failed!_

'_Fuck!_' I swore mentally before turning back to my sole remaining teammate.

Hibachi and I looked at each other before looking back into the bush Ami was presently trying to wade through.

After watching Ami stock off into the wood, Hibachi and I had decided to give her about thirty minutes to cool down. But after an hour had passed we went off in search of her. After about a further fifteen minutes of searching for Ami, Hibachi and I came to the conclusion that she had taken off in the direction of the tower. So we – '_Who am I kidding, it's just me..._' – came up with a plan to find her.

"So we came into the Forest from the North, and on the East side of the river. Now the river runs pretty much straight to the tower, so we can each take a back searching for Ami on our respective sides and places to camp, just in case the tower is closed for business. Got it?"

His placid nod was all the confirmation I needed. "Good. I'll take the west bank then. Good luck."

'_Kami knows he'll need it._'

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

After breaking off from Hibachi, I proceeded to find no trace of either Ami or a decent place to make camp. Not only that, but now the sun was down and I was munching on a tasteless ration bar and drinking my precious filtered water. I was presently sitting on a high, thick tree branch, wide enough to sleep on, which was what I intended to do.

'_Limits the amount of predators that will be hunting me. All of the most dangerous ones are ground based,_' I thought, picturing the giant bears, giant leeches, and giant lions and tigers and leopards, feeling very safe in my tree.

As I lay down to sleep though, I could only think two things. The first being how the day could have gone better and the second was that I hadn't accounted for some other predator whose name was eluding me.

Ignoring these thoughts I went to sleep.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

On the second day I awoke to a breeze coming through the forest and the sounds of clacking and a weight on my chest-

Snapping my eyes open, I lashed out a fist and immediately connected with something fuzzy, sending it rolling.

Getting to my feet, I took stock of my situation. A dozen or more shadowy forms were clambering towards me, particularly from above. Cascading down on strands of silk, I saw my freakish eight eyed enemies.

The giant spiders of the Forest of Death.

**Author's Note**

Hope you all enjoyed, cause that was a bitch to write. First off, I have to basically make and write Ami and Hibachi, cause you can only see very limited pieces of their character. So you take that, use that to figure out their driving motivations and/or personality/traits and from there extrapolate what they would be like later on in their lives, but slightly different, due to a different Naruto Universe. Then there's Anko, who has been written a million ways under the sun. What I am trying to do with her is to keep her as cannon as possible while showing why she would be more than a Tobeketsu Jonin, and how someone would trust her with a team, in particular the team with the Jiinchuriki on it.

I had several different ideas about how I was going to do the test with Anko, but many of them fell kinda flat. Like an actual seduction/interrogation taking place. These guys are really too young to seduce anyone at this point and who would they interrogate? Then I had a stealth test that I was thinking about, but I couldn't decide on the boundaries of the test. So I took another look at Kakashi's 'survival training' and Anko's favorite haunt other than a dango stand, and BAM. Actual survival test in the Forest of Death. So that's how I got that idea.

Once again, and as always, a big thanks to resident Beta, HTM. Once again I urge you all to take a look at some of his writing, it's pretty damn good.

HTM?

**Editor's Note:**

Hm? Yeah?

*****reads last paragraph*

…

*****screams like a little girl*

I HATE SPIDERS! BEGONE, FOUL BEINGS OF THE DEVIL! WHATEVER MADE YOU MUST DIE!


	7. Survival Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or the game(s) Fallout 3/New Vegas. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto, and Bethesda Softworks respectively… I am just having some fun!

**Editor's note:** Who in their right mind think that disclaimers work? And why even use them to begin with? .

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

-0-

_Last Time on Naruto: Fractured Fate_

Getting to my feet, I took stock of my situation. A dozen or more shadowy forms were clambering towards me, particularly from above. Cascading down on strands of silk, I saw my freakish, eight-eyed enemies.

The giant spiders of the Forest of Death.

-0-

_Present_

"MOTHERFUCKER!" I shouted, shoving 3 inches of steel into the body of a spider that was about to devour my face like me devouring ramen. Dancing around two more, I felt another spider drop onto my back. Screaming, I ran to a tree, turning quickly so my back faced the trunk. A wet crunch and a dampness on my back let me know that my manoeuvre was successful.

+50 XP

Looking again, I realized exactly how terrifying my opponents were. Their nimble, hairy legs belying their massive size – well, massive for a spider. Honestly they were only about the size of my chest. Not overly large, but a lot larger than any arachnid has any reason to be – fangs dripping with venom, and eight eyes shining with what looked like a light of their own. '_Honestly, these things are straight out of a fucking nightmare. And to make matter's worse, I DON'T HAVE ANY WEAPONS!_'

Ignoring my impending doom I tried noting surroundings and adversaries to come up with a plan. I was on a fifteen foot wide branch, in between two tree's connected by the branch that I was on – kind of like a giant 'H' – and in a part of the Forest of Death where the trees were very close together, on both sides of the river, and where the foliage was so thick you couldn't see the sky. I counted four shadows on the branch in front of me, three more crawling down the tree towards me, and another dozen now coming down on silken strands.

'_All of them have been coming from above me, so they probably have some nest up in the branches or leaves above me or something._'

Trying to stay mobile, I tried to leap onto the first spider in line on the branch, but it jumped out of the way, forcing me to throw a kunai at it, before it could take advantage of my vulnerability. The kunai dug into its chassis and sent it hurtling off the branch.

+25 XP

'_Dammit!_' I thought, rolling past the second spider. '_I only have three more of those left!_'

Taking another kunai out of my pocket, I stabbed it down into the head piece of the third spider, before doing another roll to get me out of range of the second spider, and then performing a back heel leg sweep to kick the fourth off the branch

+25 XP

+25 XP

Turning around once I reached the end of the branch again, I took another count of my enemies. Two more had touched down on my branch, one from its string, one from the tree opposite me, leaving about ten coming down on strings. '_Oh, and two in the tree above me,_' I thought to myself when I glanced up.

'_Dammit! I need a crazy idea before I run out of weapons!_'

Opening my Inventory, I saw that I had three kunai left, two spools of ninja wire, and four explosive notes remaining. '_Okay, crazy idea, GO!_'

Waiting a moment in my inventory, my gaze eventually fell back on the ninja wire. Thinking about how most of the spiders were hanging in the air, I realized I had my crazy plan. Equipping the ninja wire before I left my inventory, I quickly made a rudimentary lasso with it. Giving an experimenting twirl at my side, I lashed out with it, capturing the nearest spider dangling from its thread. Pulling it roughly towards me, I started to twirl my crude meteor hammer, a wicked smile on my face.

'_Oh, NOW it's on!_'

I started walking forward, spider-on-a-rope slanted to knock the spiders in front of me off the branch. Hitting all three, one after the other, I turned my attention to knocking out the ones coming down at me.

+25 XP

+25 XP

'_Must not have killed one,_' I thought, targeting the next arachnid for the slaughter. I picked off three more before the rest of the spiders got the message not to come near me.

+25 XP

+25 XP

+25 XP

Except for the one that snuck up behind me.

"Grah!" I cried out, kicking backwards and catching the little bastard right in its eyes. I couldn't help but think that it did soothe my pain a little as it gave out a piercing cry as it fell towards its death.

+25 XP

Looking around, so as not to be snuck up on again, I noticed that the spiders were starting to crawl back up their trees and strings.

'_Oh no you don't!_' I thought, reeling in my wriggling spider-on-a-string. Avoiding its teeth and limbs, I planted an explosive tag on it, and set it to explode. Twirling the wire around, to build up the spiders momentum, I gave the wire a yank, reeling it back into my sleeve, and releasing the spider to go on a sailing arc into two of its comrades before exploding in a fashion most gory.

+25 XP

+25 XP

+25 XP

I grinned and was about to shout something out about how naturally awesome I was, before it froze in my throat.

When that fireball went off, it did two very important things. The first thing it did was illuminating everything around it, being in the ball park of a hundred more spiders dropping down from the canopy, including one that was practically overhead already. The second thing it did was it took that giant spider – and that's gigantic, considering the size of the rest of these gross standards. This thing was the size of a fucking hay cart! – and tossed it like a softball, rebounding that downright brobdignagian spider off the far tree and straight toward me.

Isn't life just swell?

Quickly scampering out of its way, I ran to the underside of the branch, giving myself a moment to think of a plan of attack, or more likely, escape.

'_Fuck!_' I thought, as I heard the skittering of the humongous spider as it rounded the branch, looking for me. Looking directly at me with its absurdly proportioned eyes, it began to scuttle towards me.

'_Time for another crazy idea,_' I thought before realizing that it was scuttling _directly_ at me.

Skipping back to grant myself some space, I stuck another explosive note down where I was 'standing'. Or hanging. Whatever.

'_Only two left,_' I thought to myself, before skipping back again to get out of my explosives range.

I waited for only a second to see if the enormous arachnid was dumb enough to activate my trap.

It was.

Activating the seal, I had a brief flash of pride and the feeling of impending victory as my enemy was cast down from my tree.

Of course, when my branch creaked, snapped, and started to fall itself, it was a lot less fun.

It was even less fun when the spider that was somehow still alive whipped out a cord of web which caught onto my falling branch, and used it to swing itself back on.

'_It's as if some god somewhere is taking pleasure at my pain,_' I thought before whipping out my wire lasso again, throwing it at the freaks mandibles.

Thankfully it missed. I only had a second to roll away as the spider's bite tore through the wood where I had been standing.

I took a look at the ground, and calculated we had about another 60 feet, just a few seconds left at our acceleration.

Then I realized something. '_I don't need to kill this thing, the fall and the branch will do that for me!_'

Performing a sequence of three hand seals, I left a perfect clone to distract the spider. Utilizing the diversion, I leaped off my branch for the closest tree. I was able to avoid taking any harm by sticking to the tree.

The same couldn't be said for the spider.

_Whomp!_

+100 XP

A smile came to my face.

Then I got bit in the calf again.

"SON OF A-" I screamed out, whipping around and bringing a kunai through the head of another _fucking __**SPIDER**_.

+25 XP

'_This is just getting ridiculous._'

I corrected myself when I glanced up at the ceiling of descending death. '_VERY ridiculous and about time I made my getaway._'

_**DOOM De-De Doom DOOOM**_

_LEVEL UP_

Ignoring my level up, I gathered my pack off the blanket of dead spiders, and I started moving towards the river.

'_Spiders may tree walk, but I bet they can't water walk,_' I thought with a smirk.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

-0-

I paused at the edge of the river as I gasped for breath.

'_I think I lost them,_' I thought before bringing up my map.

Before I could, however, the world faded away, and I was looking at an increasingly familiar screen.

LEVEL UP

'_Oh, yeah. I forgot about that in all the excitement of my near death experiences._'

SKILL POINTS REMAINING 21

BARTER – -17+

BUKIJUTSU, MELEE- -25+

BUKIJUTSU, RANGED- -20+

CHAKRA CONTROL- -56+

FUUINJUTSU- -32+

GENJUTSU- -12+

LOCKPICKING – -12+

MEDICINE- -22+

NINJUTSU- -47+

SMITHING- -25+

STEALTH- -24+

SPEECH – -27+

TAIJUTSU- -50+

'_All right, what to improve this time around._' Taking a hard look at my stats, I tried to ascertain what skills I would need to succeed.

'_Well I can't lie to save my life, which I think would be labelled under either speech or stealth. If I had better stealth I might not have ever been discovered by the spiders in the first place. I think that my weapon using skills are a little low too. The other skills I either don't use, don't need, or are pretty high in already. I should probably raise Genjutsu sometime soon though, if only just to not suck at it. For now though, I think I will increase Speech – I am supposed to be good at it after all – Stealth, and Ranged Bukijutsu._'

Applying the points quickly, I put five skill points in Speech, bringing it up to a meagre 32, six points in Stealth, bringing it up to 30, and a whopping ten points on Bukijutsu, Ranged, to bring it up to 30 as well.

'_I guess this level is not so much about getting stronger as it is about curbing weakness,_' I thought as I hit the finish button, and moved on to the Perks page.

Name: Black Widow/Lady Killer  
Required Level: 2  
Available Ranks: 1  
Effect: +10% damage to the opposite sex, and unique dialogue options with certain characters unlocked.

Name: Book Smart  
Required Level: 2  
Required Stats: Intelligence 4  
Available Ranks: 3  
Effect: +5 Fuuinjutsu, +5 Medicine

Name: Swift Learner  
Required Level: 2  
Required Stats: Intelligence 4  
Available Ranks: 3  
Effect: +10% Experience whenever experience is earned.

Name: Intense Training  
Required Level: 2  
Available Ranks: 10  
Effect: +1 to any S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat.

Name: Comprehension  
Required Level: 4  
Required Stats: Intelligence 4  
Available Ranks: 1  
Effect: +1 additional skill point whenever a skill book is read.

Name: Genin Ninjutsu Specialization  
Required Level: 4  
Required Stats: Ninjutsu 20  
Available Ranks: 1  
Effect: D rank ninjutsu cost 50% less chakra to cast.

Name: Genin Combat Specialization  
Required Level: 4  
Required Stats: Bukijutsu, Melee 20 / Bukijutsu, Ranged 20 / Taijutsu 20  
Available Ranks: 3  
Effect: 25% more damage with a chosen weapon type and/or type. (must apply to different weapon with each upgrade)

Name: Escape Artist  
Required Level: 4  
Required Stats: Agility 4 / Ninjutsu 35  
Available Ranks: 4  
Effect: Level 1, Substitution and other techniques can now be used at double the distance from an object that the switch is being performed with. Level 2, you can now substitute with other people. Level 3, your substitution distance has doubled again. Level 4, you can now substitute with air.

'_So now for another question. I already decided the last time I levelled up to get one of two things this go about. Either I choose Intense Training to get a better Perception score, and have people stop sneaking up on me, or I get Combat Specialization and improve my damage._'

As I thought back over my recent experience at the hands of those eight legged bastards, however, I realized what I had to do.

'_I became more injured during that fight not because I wasn't doing enough damage to my opponents but because I couldn't keep track of all of them. I am upgrading my Perception._' And with that thought, I chose Intense Training, +1 Perception.

As the orange haze faded, I began to notice my surroundings with a clarity that I had never before possessed. I saw the pigments of the leaves around me, I saw the wind moving the grass, the ripples in the river, the coarse hair on the spiders thorax, the creak-

'_Wait a minute, what?_' Scanning back to the way whence I came, I found that the spiders had arrived.

"Dammit!" I shouted before mentally reprimanding my loudness. '_If they didn't know where I was before, they do now._'

Turning back to the river, I began to pray silently to the gods of luck and ramen that my chakra control was high enough for this next task. Satisfied, I placed my foot on the current.

SKILL CHEK (CHAKRA CONTROL 56/50): PASS: 200 XP AWARDED

PERK GAINED: **GALILEE THIS!**

'_Booyah!_' I thought victoriously, before rushing down the river. Sparing a glance over my shoulder as I ran, I saw as the spiders arrived, frustrated, at my point of departure.

"HAHA! TAKE THAT YOU BASTARDS! YOU WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS AS THE DAY THAT YOU ALMOST ATE N…" I shouted before hearing a splash behind me. Not bothering to look, I rolled to the side, just in time to dodge a large fleshy grey… thing as it leapt out of the water. Looking around, I could see more hunks of grey jumping out of the water and leaping towards me from down river. It took me a few seconds before placing these next monstrosities in the big 'Shit to Avoid' list. They were named for their size, method of transportation, alliteration, and their tendency to lock onto the veins of any passerby and suck them dry.

'_Large Leaping Leeches. As if my day couldn't get any better,_' I grumbled mentally before turning to tactics.

'_Okay, game-plan time. These things like to stick to the water, so the logical thing to do would be to go on land, but I would rather not face the entire nest of spiders that are currently after my presumably tasty ass. So it's the water route._' Taking a quick count of the leaches down river, I thought to myself, '_Yeah, I can take six worms, no problem. In fact,_' I began grinning. '_This might even be fun!_'

Then, once again, I felt something bite my calf.

"SON OF A BITCH!" I screamed in a most assuredly manly fashion, plunging a kunai down into the pussy eyeball of the leech attached to my leg.

Letting go with a shriek, the leech tried to escape by swimming towards the shore.

'_Oh no you don't!_' I thought, grabbing the worm by its tail. Spinning the arm long leech in a circle to gain momentum, I threw it into the closest cluster of spiders on the shore.

"_And suck it!_" I shouted after the downed parasite, turning back to the group barrelling at me.

'_The spools of ninja wire I have are no good as long as they are coated with that slimy coat of mucus, my explosive tags are no good when they are underwater, which they are half the bloody time, and I am running low anyway. The ninjutsu I have will be of virtually no use here, since substitution will put me back on shore, transformation probably won't fool them and… wait,_' I thought before slapping myself in the head.

Going through a few hand signs, I gave a shout of, "Clone technique!" Instantly, four clones of the most attractive man in Fire country poofed into existence. Giving a mighty shout, the five of us charged down the river towards our enemy. '_If nothing else, they'll be good for a very temporary distraction,_' I thought shrewdly before engaging my first opponent.

The first leech leapt straight for my chest. One sidestep swing later, and it was missing its face.

+15 XP

'_Only 15 experience? God these things must suck!_' I thought before giving out a chuckle as I turned into my next victim, in mid-leap through a clone. '_Ha ha, the leeches suck. God I'm awesome._'

Grabbing the leech before it could completely submerge, I pulled hard on its… 'tail', I suppose, and impaled it with a handy kunai.

+15 XP

At this point I could tell, with my super-awesome recently enhanced Perception that the rest of the leeches were beginning to catch on to my ploy.

Not wasting any time, I stabbed at the next one as it sailed through the air, cursing as I missed. At this point all of my clones had dispersed, and I was on my own, against the four remaining leeches. Placing my kunai between my teeth, I ran through the hand seals for another "Clone technique!"

Catching my kunai before it plunged into the river, I ducked underneath a leech as it went soaring overhead, taking out one of the four clones I summoned. Rolling away, I turned back to face that same leech as it attempted to latch onto my face. Punching with my kunai wielding hand, I managed to slice down its top before it scraped past me as I attempted to dodge. Its extended teeth cut into my chest, ripping my favourite shirt in the process.

"BASTARD!" I yelled at the wannabe slug, using its slowed velocity to stab it once again, this time putting it down for good.

+15 XP

'_Three left,_' I thought, trying to stay abreast of the situation. '_Two of my clones are still up and distracting the opposition. At least these ones are good for something. Damn do I miss the shadow clone technique,_' I thought mournfully before refocusing as a leech gave a screech and launched in my direction. Sidestepping again, I brought my kunai down to kill.

+15 XP

Jumping towards one of the remaining two leeches, I jabbed my knife forward through my last surviving clone to catch one of the leeches unaware. Giving a gurgle as it impaled itself upon my blade, I couldn't help but smirk in my apparent victory before hearing a splash from my left.

+15 XP

I ducked down and tossed my kunai to my left hand, which gave a swipe as fast as I could manage. It wasn't fast enough. With a sickening squelch the final leech latched onto my shoulder, its teeth burrowing into my skin. Funny enough, even with a set of teeth nearly as long as my index finger, I couldn't feel anything.

'_That's because leech saliva is a powerful anticoagulant and anaesthetic,_' I though as I stabbed at the parasite latched onto me, my medical knowledge making itself known. I stabbed it a few more times, and it finally fell, leaving me to resume my course – '_Ha ha, river joke_' – towards the tower in the middle of the forest.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

-0-

It was afternoon on the third day when I finally spied the multi-level tower, made as if it was part of some ancient castle. A couple of minutes later and I made it to the tower's doors. The same doors that completely surrounded the base of the building.

'_Troublesome,_' I grunted mentally. '_Now I have to go and check each and every door to see where they went in._'

I started to jog around the base of the buildings, trying to spy any notes or signs of passage on any of the doors. A few minutes later I realized I didn't mark my starting point. I cursed myself, took out a kunai, and carved 'ramen' into the door I was closest to. I nodded with satisfaction and continued my run around the building.

I pulled up next to the 'ramen' door a bit later, having found no sign of passage or my teammates. Making my way to the temporarily awesome door, I pulled on the handle.

It wasn't budging.

I punched the door.

It didn't move, or break.

My hand hurt.

I started circling around the building again, this time trying all the doors.

'_Just my luck,_' I thought. '_They are all locked, every single one of them._'

I started cursing at the time I wasted before I raised my fist, to shake it angrily at the building, and spied a window.

'_Well, time to see if ninja are as paranoid as they have every right to be,_' I thought before running up the wall, onto the red tiled roof of the first 'platform'. Checking the window I first saw for any sign of passage, I was disappointed and frustrated to find nothing of the sort. Jiggling the window a bit, I found that it was locked as well. Giving the window my strongest punch proved that it was just as immovable as the doors below. Checking the rest of the windows on that level, I found them to be in a similar state. As well as the windows on the next level. And the next. And the one after that, and pretty soon, I had checked all seven layers of that tower of invincible windows.

'_What the fuck? How is this thing indestructible?_' I thought before what I think might have been fuuinjutsu skill spoke up. '_Well, seeing as how this tower is in the middle of the Forest of Death, and also used for the Chuunin Exam, it is plausible that seals were placed over otherwise 'strategically weak' areas, such as windows and the like in order to increase their durability in the face of the brutality that they would otherwise be subject to._'

Having finished that thought, I had a moment where I truly hated my brain's ability to derail my rants on stupid things in life before it had even gotten started. When that moment of what _I_ think shouldn't really be called self-loathing or pity, I resumed trying to make a plan for contacting my teammate, and/or possibly my lost team.

'_Okay, if Hibachi had been here, I am sure that a man of even his intelligence would have left a note, or some sign that he had been here,_' I thought desperately hoping I wasn't vastly overestimating my teammate's intelligence. '_So the best thing to do is to settle in and wait._'

Taking a quick look at the suns position, I amended. '_And I better get my camp set up soon, or else I'll be doing it in the dark._'

Taking a position on the fifth level of the tower, still above the treetops and, hopefully the wildlife, I settled down for the night.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

-0-

It was now the fourth day of my team's trial, and I was still the only one at the damn tower. Having spent the night before sleeping without having a giant spider attempting to devour my face was doing wonders for my morale, especially when I also had time to munch down a couple of ration bars, but it still wasn't enough to stave off the worry I felt when I thought of Ami or Hibachi. '_Sure, we're all ninja now, but these two are still fresh out of the Academy,_' I thought to myself. '_Technically so am I, but I also have the memories of a shinobi with about a year's experience under my belt._'

"Dammit!" I swore after glancing at the suns position, indicating it was just about noon. '_They should have been here by now, at least Hibachi anyway._'

Pacing back and forth I decided to try the windows again. Giving the one closest to me another check, rattle, or punch, I also noticed a little keyhole in the bottom right corner of the window frame. Reaching for it, I was stopped by a pop-up message.

THROUGHOUT THE WORLD OF NARUTO, YOU WILL ENCOUNTER MANY LOCKED CONTAINERS, BUILDINGS, AND OBJECTIVES ON INFILTRATION MISSIONS. TO PICK A CERTAIN LOCK, YOU, THE CHARACTER, NEED A LOCKPICK, A SKILL HIGH ENOUGH TO PICK THE LOCK. DIFFERENT GRADES OR CLASSES OF LOCK HAVE DIFFERENT SKILL LEVELS REQUIRED TO PICK THEM. THE EASIEST OF THESE IS THE E-RANK LOCK, WITH A REQUIRED SKILL LEVEL OF ZERO. AFTER THE CHARACTER HAS THE PICK(S) AND THE KNOW-HOW, THEN IT IS SIMPLY A MATTER OF MANEUVERING THE PICK INTO THE CORRECT POSITION TO HIT ALL THE TUMBLERS, AND ULTIMATELY UNLOCK THE LOCK.

'_And I don't have that many skill points in Lockpi-_' I though before cancelling out the tutorial pop-up.

YOUR LOCKPICK SKILL IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH. NEEDS TO BE AT LEAST 40 TO PICK THIS LOCK

'_Fantastic_' I thought, before cancelling that message out. '_Oh well, I don't think I have any lock picks any_-' only to see another message.

YOU ARE OUT OF LOCK PICKS

"Great," I spat, growing angry at my apparent inadequacy in this one area. '_So even if they were currently inside, I wouldn't be able to find them anyway,_' I thought before shaking my head. '_No, if anyone was inside, they would have come outside yesterday when I was making the racket testing the 'status' of all of the doors. The only explanation is that Hibachi must have met up with Ami, but then couldn't convince her to come back to the tower, either because it was my plan and she wants to leave, or because either of them didn't believe in the tower in the first place, as it sounded too good to be true. At this point it's irrelevant why, because both mean that my teammates are still out there._'

Taking a moment to make a final decision, I gave a precise nod. '_And I am going to find them!_'

Packing up all of my stuff was the matter of a few minutes, and then the rest of day four was spent searching for my team along the rivers.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

-0-

After spending the night in an abandoned burrow, I spent the majority of day five searching along the river I had sent Hibachi down. When night was beginning to fall, I was starting to lose hope of finding them that day either, when I sighted a glow in the distance. Moving quickly through the trees, I found that I had finally caught up with my companions. Having set up camp on a outcropping of rock outside of a massive cave, they had set up a fire and by the smell, were apparently well on their way to having dinner cooked. And there were Hibachi and Ami, with the former stoking the fire and cooking a brace of rabbit, and the latter bitching about something inane.

Moving towards them, I felt some of the tension of the last few days beginning to seep out of my limbs.

"What the fuck are YOU doing here?"

And with that shriek of alarm, all that tension came racing back with a vengeance.

"Finally catching up with you after you stupidly marched off into the forest, sitting down with the team I am supposed to be with during this god forsaken test, hopefully getting some hare, or rabbit. Take your pick," I supplied back to Ami.

With a huff, she just sat down across the fire from me. Shaking my head at her antics, I turned to my less emotive comrade.

"So how was your day?"

He gave a huffing laugh before turning to me.

"Well," he started saying, "I had to run away from some stuff in the night before making it to the tower, didn't see anything, and all the doors were locked, so I just kept running. Eventually I ran into her," a jab with a blackened stick towards the female member of our group at this point. "Then we wound up here an hour or so before you showed up. Pretty tired too so we just set up a fire, and whatnot. Didn't even check the cave."

At this point, Hibachi indicated the massive cave behind him.

"That cave?" I confirmed, incredulous that these two, rookies though they may be, would make such a rookie mistake.

Hibachi grunted in the affirmative.

"The big ominous one? That cave?"

"Yep."

"The big, ominous, more than likely hiding a large and dangerous creature, and in front of which you're cooking a meaty dinner one? That one right there?"

Rolling his eyes, Hibachi turned to me. "I'm sure nothings in there. Besides, if it was anything we could take it."

It was at this point that I'm sure some god sitting atop the world was pointing down and laughing. Especially when something in the cave gave off an earth shaking roar.

Still looking at me, Hibachi gave a sigh. "Just had to fucking jinx it, didn't you?"

Getting up and facing the cave, I bit off a sarcastic response. "Oh yeah, this is all my fault. Totally. No way that this is the result of not actually scouting your camp ground. Not at all."

"Would you two shut up and focus?" Ami ground out. "What are we even facing anyway?"

"Something big. But I don't want to go in there and find out what." Hibachi supplied, a quaver barely noticeable in his voice.

"No," I said. "I have a better idea."

Taking a moderately sized log from Hibachi's fire, I threw it into the cave, having it illuminate anything in its immediate vicinity. It was a good idea on the surface, and it worked.

Right up until it ran into what might as well have been a wall, and fell at the feet of a three storey tall, 20 ton, Forest of Death, giant-ass bear.

"Naruto," Hibachi whispered. "I hate you so much."

With a whimper from Ami, and a roar from a pissed off bear. The fight began.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

The first few moments of the fight was indescribable chaos. Ami was running from the bear, Hibachi was, in a typical boneheaded manner, running _towards_ the behemoth, and I stood, analysing my surroundings, wondering what the hell I could hit this thing with to make it die. Or at least hurt or fall unconscious.

'_Maybe it's better to run and live than to stay and die,_' I thought to myself as Hibachi tried to hurt the bear by stabbing it in the paw. Dashing forward, I tackled my retarded teammate to the ground before the bear could kill him with a retaliatory swipe.

"Don't fight! Run!" I shouted at him before running in the same direction as Ami had. Thankfully even Hibachi had the sense to run from the giant monster. Unfortunately, the beast must have decided that it was in the mood for a chase. Giving another roar, it started to shamble after us in a loping run, breaking low branches and shouldering small trees out of the way as it went.

"KEEP RUNNING!" I shouted at Hibachi, who had almost fell over a log. Of course, in the instant that I had cared about my teammate, a branch had come sailing free of its previous prison, thanks to the hell-bear, and hit both Hibachi and me in our backs.

The air rushed out of my lungs as I plunged towards the ground. In the time it took me to reorient myself, however, the bear had closed the distance between us.

Going after me, it took a wide swipe at my prone body.

Running my hands through a set of seals I managed to let off a substitution technique before its blow could land. If anything it only seemed to be amused by this. Coming after me, again with those wide swipes, I continued to duck, roll, and substitute myself with the carnage of branches that were left in the wake of its charge. I couldn't get any real distance between us, though, as I could only substitute myself with something a maximum of ten to fifteen yards away, and every time I did the bear would immediately close in on me.

Dodging and weaving and substituting were my entire world for the next five minutes, as I desperately waited for my team to do something. After that time, though, and way too many close calls, I began to have doubts about their courage. '_I mean, they have never faced anything like this before they came here with Anko-san and me, and they maybe even haven't faced or killed anything until hopefully today. They might have just ran away and left me here- PAIN!_' I thought, as my world dissolved to white hot agony and I felt myself spinning to the ground.

It seems as I became mired in these dark thoughts of my comrades, my reactions slowed down as well, and when it came time to jump back to avoid a set of razor sharp claws, I only missed the brunt of them, with the tips digging long, deep furrows into my belly.

Holding my stomach in a weak attempt to staunch the bleeding my hazy, possibly delirious mind perceived the bear stalking over to me, every inch the confident predator, oozing blood lust of a thousand years of evolution, eyes gleaming with the memory of the kill that was to come. It raised its paw to strike the blow that would end my life and then…

Then it started to freak the fuck out.

It began twitching, whimpering, rolling around as to put out an imaginary fire and… imaginary fire?

'_Genjutsu,_' I concluded before searching my immediate area for the source, finding it in the tree above me, I let out a pent up breath. '_Ami._'

Climbing up to the branch she was on, I found that she wasn't alone either.

"Thought you could use some help, you were getting your ass kicked," Hibachi supplied oh so tactfully.

"Thanks, but I had him on the ropes." I retorted, not wanting to show weakness.

"Now that you're done with the cock sucking, could we maybe do something about the rampaging behemoth? This is harder than it looks you know!" Ami ground out, ever the pleasant spirit.

"All right," I said aloud. "Game plan. Do you guys have any weapons? I know I saw you with a kunai earlier, Bachi."

Rolling his eyes at the nickname Hibachi responded "No, sensei took all of ours away, remember?"

"Then how did you get one?"

Scratching the back of his head in a nervous gesture, Hibachi shyly said, "I maybe kinda stole it from your pocket when you were sitting beside me at the fire earlier."

A pause.

"Huh," I grunted surprised, torn between congratulating his skill at stealth and reprimanding him for his forwardness.

"ANY TIME NOW!" Ami shouted, dragging me back down to the elemental nations.

"Right, so the only weapons we have are mine. Do you two have any other techniques aside from the academy three?"

A shake of the head was all the answer I needed from Hibachi, from Ami, however. "I'M FUCKING DOING IT!" she screamed, sweat beading on her brow as her technique continued taking it's toll on her.

'_Crazy idea… GO!'_ And with that thought came a truly terrible idea. Unfortunately it was also the only idea that came, so I didn't really have much of a selection.

"All right, here's my plan. Ami, you hold that technique for another fifteen seconds. Hibachi, you said you were good with ranged weaponry, so I want you to take this ninja wire, make a lasso out of it and loop it around the bottom half of its jaw. Then I want you to run between its legs and try to tangle it up as much as possible. Ami, I am also giving you a roll of wire, and I want you to make that same lasso, except I want it around the top of his mouth and stick to the trees, and wrap that wire around its trunk. I'll stay in front of it and try to keep it occupied with my clones. Everybody got it?" I laid out, looking for confirming nods from my companions. Once I got them, I gave the signal. "Go!"

Jumping down in front of the menace I quickly started spamming out clones like there was no tomorrow. '_Which there might not be if I fuck this up,_' I thought morbidly as Hibachi lasso met with success, looping around its bottom jaw, before he started dashing through its legs.

I saw Ami's loop rocketing through the air, snagging the beasts' upper jaw, and for a few bright seconds, as I prepared an explosive tag wrapped around a kunai, I thought that this might actually work.

Then everything went to hell.

The bear clamped its jaw down and jerked against Ami's wire, sending her flying through the air towards the beast. Rending the wires constricting its mouth, the bear gave a off another roar, celebrating in its minor victory, and I saw my opportunity to put this animal down. I began shouting at the bear in an attempt to keep its attention while throwing the kunai with an explosive tag, and thus his head, turned towards me. At the last second however, as its roar ended, it put its head down and gave it a shake. I found out later that Ami had been trying to capture it in a genjutsu again, so that it was more docile and thus easier to kill, but she collided with a tree, breaking her concentration over her craft. When my second to last explosive tag went off, all the bear received was a knock to the head and some singed fur.

Turning its attention away from me, it focused on the girl at the roots of a tree right in front of it. Giving a smaller roar, it began leaning its head down in preparation of a small meal.

'_So much for smarts,_' I thought racing forward with another explosively dressed kunai. '_Now for near-suicidal._'

"BEAR!" I screamed, trying to desperately garner its attention away from Ami. I succeeded as the bear turned its head to regard me with an animalistic leer. I didn't pay any attention to it, and focused instead on getting myself to its face. One wild leap later, I was on a collision course with an eye the size of my head.

"FUCK YOU!" And with that battle cry for the ages, I plunged my blade deep past his eye, which gave off a squishy pop. Activating the explosive tag, I could feel my arm burn as I destroyed my opponents brain.

Flung away from the dying bear by the explosion, I missed seeing Hibachi carry the Ami to safety, out of the way of the crashing bear. I also almost completely missed the screen informing me that I was crippled, and that I needed to seek medical help. Cancelling out of that screen, the world resumed to painful reality.

+150 XP

'Damn, thas a lud uh uxperiense,' I slurred mentally, my medical expertise noting that my dulled senses might be either a result of the landing on my heavily burned arm in such a way as to break it and thus send me into shock, or a result of a concussion due to either the explosive tag or my landing, once again. I didn't really care about that at the current moment though.

Pushing myself up with my uninjured arm I staggered my way back towards the camp outside of the menacing cave that started this whole shit storm, I lay down on a sleeping roll, and I put my head on an honest to god pillow, determined to milk the shock for all it was worth before actually feeling the pain I was most assuredly in.

My eyes drifted closed as I began to hear the worried voices of my company.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

I awakened to the sounds of birds chirping overhead and the crackling of a fire. My eyes squinted open to see a concern frown on Hibachi's face as he blotted out the trees above.

"Hey," I said. Master of wit, that's me.

"Hey," he responded with equal eloquence.

"What's up?" I grunted, sitting up.

Eyeing me up and down in interest, Hibachi eventually shrugged his shoulders and grunted, before going to tend the fire in our little camp.

Shaking my head, I wondered where Ami had gone off to. I didn't have to wonder long, as before I knew it I heard a loud gasp from behind me.

Turning around, I saw Ami dropping several logs, moving her hands to her mouth and eyes going wide. She stayed that way for a good ten seconds before screaming out, "_How are you walking_?"

Confused at her words, I took a quick glance at all of my limbs to make sure nothing had exploded while I wasn't paying attention. '_How AM I better? I remember very clearly having a mauled arm and some pretty serious injuries before I went to sleep._'

I managed to quirk a brow at my female companion, acting like this kinda thing happened all the time, and said blithely, "One foot in front of the other, I suppose."

Staring at me incredulously, she started walking a few steps closer to me. "I saw a bear cut up your stomach, and your arm was burnt and broken… I thought you were going to _die_!"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I got better."

Her jaw worked up and down a few times as she processed that jewel of wisdom. After shaking her head and putting on an angry face, she shouted at me again. "You can't just 'get better' like that! Wounds like that take months of recovery time, not to mention the risk of infection or the scarring, or…or…" she babbled on, unable to come to grips with reality.

"But I am better," I said, lifting up my shirt with my very unbroken arm to show a lack of visible intestines. Or blood. Or even scars, believe it or not. "See? Better."

She continued to stare at me, tearing up a little bit as I think what remained of her sanity broke apart and stole her childhood memories. Then, giving an upset huff, she picked up the logs she had dropped, and moved them to a pile of firewood.

Turning my thoughts from my rather expressive companion for a moment, I gave the present situation its due thought.

'_I have been asleep about eight hours, and in that time, I have gone from a severe condition, worthy to put me in the hospital, to being absolutely a-okay. I know that I have always healed fast but this kind of pace is ridiculous. Maybe the sleeping in a prepared bed has something to do with it?_' Shaking my head in confusion and mild bemusement I thought to myself '_Now I am going to have to mutilate myself in order to test that theory. As if I didn't have enough on my plate._'

Making my way over to the fight site from yesterday night – '_Ha ha, rhymes!_' – I moved to the giant bear, which was exactly as giant today as it was last night. Hearing a tearing sound, I turned to find Hibachi cutting into it with MY kunai.

"What are you doing?" I asked, wondering if maybe _he_ got hit on his head to do whatever it was he was doing, or maybe I did and this was all a delusion. '_It would explain the lack of pain._'

"Dinner," Hibachi said simply, not looking up from his gruesome task. I regarded the bear once more, and was surprised to find a free floating box above its corpse.

LOOT?

Y/N

Raising an eyebrow, I hit the Y.

LOOTING

THROUGHOUT THE GAME OF NARUTO: FRACTURED FATE, YOUR CHARACTER WILL FACE, AND HOPEFULLY DEFEAT AND/OR KILL, A BEDAZZLING ARRAY OF OPPONENTS. ALL OF THESE OPPONENTS WILL LEAVE BEHIND THE POSSIBLY USEFUL GEAR AND WEAPONS THAT THEY WIELD, MATERIAL THAT MAY BE SOLD AT SHOPS FOR RYO OR STORE CREDIT, AND NOT TO MENTION ANY RYO THAT MAY BE IN THEIR WALLETS (FOR NINJA), GULLETS (FOR ANIMALS/BEASTS) OR CIRCUITS (ROBOTS) AT THE TIME.

"I could have been looting these things the WHOLE TIME?!" I shouted while the world remained at a standstill, before sighing and cancelling out the message. The next box jumped up promptly, on the left, showing my inventory, and on the right displaying another inventory which I assumed to be the bears. In it, there were only 'Bear Claws' apparently worth only 2 ryo, and 'Bear Skin', apparently worth 50 ryo, despite weighing only three pounds. Looting both, I felt my pack weigh little bit more. Cancelling out of the menu I decided to be the first one to actually go and explore the bear's cave.

Taking a makeshift torch from our small fire, I stepped boldly down the steps whence the demon named a bear had come. The cave actually turned out to be pretty shallow, only going for a fifty yards or so before there was a hollow where the bear must have dwelled. Inside of that hollow were a great many bones strewn about, including one or three complete skeletons, and what looked like a treasure chest in the back. Making my way over to the first skeleton, I began the process of looting. Looting the two skeletons, I came up with a rusty katana, five rusty kunai, and 29 ryo. Moving towards the chest, I opened it and almost cried tears of joy. Inside was a bundle of Ryo – 53 according to the screen – an opal, a rough ruby, and a ninjutsu scroll.

Opening my inventory as fast as the game would allow I activated the scroll not reading its contents first.

LEARNED FUUTON: REPPUSHOU

'_Awesome! I finally have an offensive technique! Next up is trying to convince sensei to teach me the shadow clone technique and I am all set!_' I thought, punching the air in excitement. Running in circles around the cave I decided to try out my newest technique. Targeting one of the skeletons, I clapped my hands together, sending out a wave of chakra enhanced wind that sent the skeleton tumbling along the cave floor.

"I'M THE GREATEST NINJA IN THE WORLD!"

"Yeah, I'm sure," said a voice from behind me, turning around, I saw a thoroughly unimpressed Hibachi standing back near the beginning of the cavern. "Thought I would let you know that your steak is done."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," I said, before following him out of the cavern, imagining crushing my opponents with my new technique, and the flavour of bear steak.

The rest of that day went pretty smoothly, Ami only being a bitch in a cursory sense, Hibachi just grilling the steaks, and me relaxing, not thinking of the impossibilities and implausibilities that the game that is my life seems to make and then take no notice of. We were just deciding on the watch schedule when we received a surprise guest.

"How are all of my kiddies doing today?" the barely clad snake mistress shouted as she smiled down at all of us.

"Pretty well, sensei," I said without turning to look at my somewhat negligent teacher. "We have bear steak."

"So long as you remember that food isn't love. Now I am here to tell you all that the Hokage himself has personally passed you!" She said, scratching the back of her neck. "It's really a great honour!"

"Is it?" I responded blithely. "Or is it that the Hokage caught you knee deep in sake and dumplings and ordered you to get back here and pass us after spending so long in the Forest of Death and you only got back here now after figuring out that we spent last night fighting for our lives?"

She took a moment to glare down at me. "I don't like your tone, Genin!" she growled.

"Doesn't mean I'm not right," I shot back.

"No, I was here watching all of your little candy asses at first. Poser stupidly running off alone, dumb one following your instructions blindly, avoiding any and all fights due to some pretty slick stealth skills," Hibachi looked proud for a moment before realizing that she called him the dumb one. "And you, Naruto-kun, were by far the most entertaining, using that one spider caught in a lasso to kill all the others, using your environment to kill the last one, and then hopping on to the river to escape, only to fight your way through a pack of leaping leeches. Oh it gave me shivers."

She shivered to emphasize her point, and it did… interesting things to her anatomy. I'm a growing boy, I notice these things, sue me. "But then you spent the next couple of days just hopping around looking for each other, and that was so. Fucking. _Boring_. So yeah, I went into town because you weren't being entertaining enough. And then I missed the prize fight!"

Pouting cutely, she hopped down off of her perch to be amongst us mortals. "Anyway, now I'm here to lead you out."

Hopping up to a tree, she shouted at us. "Come on, first one there gets dango from the losers."

There was much grumbling as we packed up our camp, but it was mostly good natured. After all, tonight we could sleep in our own beds. Thinking back to my own bed though, maybe that isn't such a good thing.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

Approaching midnight, the three of us finally met up with Anko in the clearing where our nightmare had begun.

"All right troops, that's it for today, and tomorrow too. Go home, get some rest, brag to your friends about how you're better than them, and in two days, we are going to meet here at 0800. You got that? Good, now get lost," she shouted cheerfully before disappearing into a shunshin.

QUEST COMPLETED: MAKING THE GRADE

+300 XP AWARDED

QUEST ADDED: THE DAILY GRIND

-MEET WITH ANKO IN TWO DAYS TIME AT 0800

"Fuck this, I'm going home," I said, hoping that being her student got easier from here.

I really should learn to stop hoping for things.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

**-Hayou Clanb:** Having been greatly rushed an utilizing a barely used and hardly understood seal, Minato Namikaze makes a mistake. Such a thing is ordinarily understandable, even for a genius of his caliber, but when the stakes are the life of his son and the fate of the Kyuubi, the results are too terrible to imagine. Never realizing that a mistake ever occured Naruto, life continued around Naruto even as the chakra of the nine tailed demon-fox continued to leak from him, enticing and encouraging the rage and loathing of his peers and elders.

**-Play-through of Naruto: Fractured Fate #134-**

I trembled as I stared down at my cold beaten body. Even now I could see the bruises beginning to form that would make even walking tomorrow hell.

Slowly reaching into my backpack, I gathered up some of the cloth and tape that I now always have on hand for emergencies. '_Emergencies,_' I thought, sniffling wetly '_Does it still count if it happens so often?_' I cautiously started to bind up the worst of my injuries, starting with a long cut running down my stomach, but I couldn't help the tears that ran down my face as I braced against the ever-constant pain.

Stopping for a moment, I gazed up at the stars, as if hoping that salvation lay there. If not salvation though, maybe I could find an answer.

'Why do they keep hurting me?'

Today I am 4 years old.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

I trembled as I stared down at my bloodied hands, disbelieving of the act I just performed.

'_I-I didn't mean to-_' I thought, glancing down at the unmoving merchant on the street. '_He gave me no choice!_'

I had all the chance I could ever possibly need to plead my innocence as the ANBU picked me up and put me in holding, but my captors never spoke a word back.

Eventually I was taken before the Hokage and his three advisors to plead my case. I kept telling him how much '_I didn't mean it_' and how '_I didn't think it would kill him_', but he just kept looking back at me with this sad, disappointed smile. The two really old people just kept shouting about how I should be put down, how '_it_' should be transferred to someone more suitable. There was that one creepy guy with one arm and one eye , who was saying that he had a suitable candidate available. The old man just held up his hand though, telling them that '_the sacrifice shall be honoured_'. I don't know what he meant by that, though. He got up and came over to me, forestalling any protest from his advisors, and he invited me to get some food with him. I gladly accepted, despite my own confidence about holding down food at this point being shaky. I could only hope that I never felt like this again.

Today I am 6 years old.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

Seeing blood on my hands was quickly becoming a sight all too familiar. The three bodies that littered the area around me stared back with blank looks, unknowing of the crimes of violence that were about to be committed. I had killed them first this time, though. God, I killed them all.

I just didn't want them to hurt me. Is that too much to ask? To live in peace?

I snorted as I realized what I was thinking. It was that thinking that led to me signing myself up for the Ninja Academy. I did it so that I could learn how to fight from the best hidden village in the world, so that I could defend myself against assholes like this.

So that I wouldn't hurt anymore.

I didn't worry about the bodies. Old man Hokage always helped with that part. Besides, who should care about asshole child beaters like them anyway?

Today I am 9 years old.

**-Naruto: Fractured Fate-**

The night was cold, and dark and raining. That, in and of itself is unusual in a nation consumed by forest and jungle. Not the rain so much as the dark and cold. '_It's a tropical climate, after all,_' I thought. On the ground were the remains of the weather of the previous day, large puddles taking up most streets. Some so large that any respectable man would call them a pond, and ninja had to come and transport the water elsewhere.

I'm sure you're wondering why it is that I am prattling on about sunny periods and patches of rain spreading in from the west. I'll tell you; those are just the things you notice after coming out of a fight.

Looking around at the scattered pieces of the men who attempted to, and I'm quoting here, "Shend the demon back to hell wher it belongs," I shook my head.

'_Why is it that drunk people always think they're invincible?_' I thought, thinking back to the many occasions where I would have to deal with one or more of the bastards stumbling home from the bar who decided to take a few whacks at the 'demon-child'

I gave a rueful chuckle. '_They can get away with it because who would make sure I'm alright? Who would worry about me?_'

When it came to everyone else, it was always '_Don't worry, your parents and the ninja are here to protect you_', and when the focus turns my way, the message is reversed. '_I should worry, because those parents and the ninja are out to get me._'

I idly wondered as I stepped through the drunken sod's large intestine, on my way back to my apartment, if anybody would actually miss this bastard, now that he's gone before quickly scoffing at the idea. Nobody missed these assholes, and that's why I created the 'bloody' principle.

I created the 'bloody' principle shortly after I my tenth birthday, when I stumbled upon a drug deal in an alleyway. Naturally things went south. What really caught my attention was how I _wasn't_ pulled aside by the ANBU. I came to the conclusion that nobody missed scum. The bloody principle states that I may only kill if two criteria are met. one, that the man I am about to kill is a threat to me, or I learned something new about human anatomy and I need a live subject to test on, or I simply need the money the man is carrying. And two, the man is in a position where he is at least equally despised as me. Open game on drunks, degenerates, lowlifes, and criminals. Always people that no one will miss, and always sinners.

'_Just like me!_' I thought, a bloody grin teasing my face.

Today I am 11 years old.

Tomorrow I take my Genin Exam.

-0-

**Authors Note**

Well that took a while.

Really sorry about that slow update, everybody, no excuse for that… aside from writers block and about five pages I had to cut because of excessive suckage.

Aside from that though, I managed to fit in the first of many flash forwards, to Naruto's of different skill sets, genders, clans, and teams. That way we can see the breadth of this world that I am creating. The one above is, as is listed, from the Hanyou clan, the first of twenty or so that are 'Playable' in Naruto's game world. These aren't really important...yet. Presently they just illustrate different missions and the breadth of the world that I am creating.

Also, seguing that bit about the breadth of the world I am creating, I will also have the guidebook up soon, glossing over everything that is and can happen in the game.

Also, ALSO, there is someone that pointed this out, and yes, that was indeed an 'O brother where art thou?' quote/ ripoff in the last chapter. Internet cookies for Delmar, whomever you are...

Whelp, that's all I have to say, aside from, as usual, thanking our resident beta and godsend, HTM. HTM everybody.

If you haven't checked out his stories, you should, they are fantastic.

Now I'll turn it over. HTM?

HTM: Well, that escalated quickly.


	8. The Daily Grind

Disclaimer: As you all know, I don't own Naruto OR Fallout. They are owned by people radically different than I… and in the case of Kishimoto, people dumber than I. JK! But seriously, sort out your shit, 'Moto.

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

-0-

_Last Time on Naruto: Fractured Fate:_

"Fuck this, I'm going home," I said, hoping that being her student got easier from here.

I should really learn to stop hoping for things.

-0-

_Present:_

"Is everyone ready?"

"Affirmative!"

"Yep!"

"Hibachi! You can't say 'yep' on a mission! You have to say, 'affirmative', or 'roger', or… anything besides 'yep'!" a vexed Ami screamed.

"Okay," Hibachi dutifully responded.

That remark only seemed to spike Ami's pique even higher as she began a very loud lecture on standard communication while a mission was in progress, completely oblivious to her own breach of aforementioned parameters.

I rolled my eyes. 'Oh yeah, these guys are focused.'

Three weeks have passed since my team's pleasure romp through the Forest of Death, and yet things have not improved. Sure, we did some team training every day, mostly just practice bouts of taijutsu, chakra control exercises, team cooperation drills, situational tactics, and last but not least, jutsu practice . We weren't learning new ones. Just using the ones that we already have in 'exciting' new ways. It always resulted in me either begging Anko-snesei to teach me or me attempting the Kage Bunshin. It never ended well. On top of those drills, we also had to participate in at least one D rank mission every day. That part wasn't entirely a bad thing, so much as it was boring and repetitive. We got the mission, we went somewhere to perform a menial task – painting fences, cleaning out attics, catching Tora – we run into trouble along the way and then have to fight some giant animals – gophers, spiders, Tora – not to mention that we get into the usual. Ami yelling at someone over some benign detail. It has nearly gotten to the point that I was looking forward to killing things just to break the boring monotony.

Turning myself to face my team, I decided to nip the approaching argument in the bud. "Ami, you shouting is more out of line with standard protocol than his lack of 'affirmative', and Hibachi, just use 'okay' or something of the like, don't intentionally set her off."

"I WASN'T OUT O-"

"I didn't set her o-"

"_Quiet!_" I shouted over the din of denials. When both of them shut up I continued. "Now, we are going to go down into this basement, kill the nest of giant rats that are down there, and neaten the place up a bit. We are going down with you, Ami, in the lead, and you, Hibachi, in back. When we get down there, Hibachi will stick close to the wall on the left and cover us. Ami, you will take the centre, and I'll go right. It's very simple, and I want you to answer whether or not you understand it. Either yes or no."

After the both of them giving rather hesitant nods, we _finally_ proceeded down the stairs.

I had my team fan out, making sure to keep an eye on the red lines indicating enemies on my compass. I took out a kunai, and motioned the location of the three rats I could detect. Getting a nod from each of them, we proceeded to dodge around the boxes slowly, yet to be detected by our four legged adversaries.

The main room of the basement was about 40 feet deep, 20 feet wide and around 8 feet tall, with doors boarded shut at the far end. Interspersed throughout the room was a disarray of boxes, trash, and dirty laundry going from ankle-height to 4 feet high, approximately chin height. '_No wonder there are rats. I just wonder why there are so few of them,_' I thought dismally, as I stepped over a pool of some unnameable substance seeping from a nearby box.

It was just then, however, that the box exploded throwing a giant rat right at my face

After this incident, I swore I would never underestimate the intelligence of giant rodents again.

I tried to sidestep the airborne monstrosity before it tackled me to the floor and gave me a love bite for my efforts.

Grabbing its fur I pushed the monster across the floor until it became wedged in the corner of a stack of heavy boxes, where I proceeded to stab it to death.

+20 XP

Clambering to my feet I saw that Ami had already cut the head off of another rat and Hibachi had made his into a fair representation of a pin cushion. Looking at each other Ami was the first to speak.

"Does anyone hear any more of these things?"

A negative shake from Hibachi turned all eyes to me. Taking another second to look at my mini-map to check for any additional enemies, I gave my endorsement as well.

"Looks clear."

Ami, gave a nod before sheathing her blade. She took my endorsement as a cue to start moving forward to find the rat's nest. And the hidden rat took that as a cue to launch at her face.

"_Yah_!" Ami screamed, not having enough space to draw her blade and strike the creature down. Tackling her to the ground, the creature then tried to get work on her before being hit by a kunai courtesy of Hibachi and forced to roll off of Ami, and towards me.

Aiming a little before the creature so as to create a back draft and knock it airborne, I clapped my hands together. "Wind Release, Gale Palm!"

Knocking the rat into the air made it a perfect airborne target for Hibachi, as he made a very leaky kunai holster out of it.

"_What the fuck, Naruto_?" Ami screamed, getting to her feet.

"What?" was my response, as eloquent as ever.

"You said it was _clear_!"

"No, I said it looked clear."

Sputtering in anger, Ami shook her head before looking back at me. "Well, how does it look now?" she bit out caustically.

Nonchalantly gazing between her and the rest of the room, I said simply, "Looks clear."

Ami gave a scoff and turned away as I looted the rat I had killed earlier. Cursing to myself when I found only rat meat, I turned back to the disaster area called a basement before hearing a hearty "Good job, brats!" from the stairwell.

Looking over to see Anko-senpai dressed tantalizingly in virtually nothing, smiling away. "Now that everything is dead, you can actually clean the basement!"

She stood back up, and started to come back whence she came, oblivious to Ami's growing horror. "Mops are upstairs, kiddies!"

'This is going to suck so bad.'

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

"Why are they always giant?" I complained on the way to the Hokage tower to report my teams mission accomplished.

Hibachi tilted his head curiously before asking, "What do you mean?"

"Well, we always have to fight giant bears, or giant rats, or giant spiders, or giant leeches, or giant tigers, or giant panthers, or some other kind of monstrosity. Why can't we fight regular tigers?" I spoke animatedly.

My answer came in the form of a snotty retort from Ami. "We're ninja, Naruto. We can't just go around fighting _ordinary_ animals and stuff. It'd be like… like using a cannon to kill a mosquito."

"That's the thing! I don't feel like I'm the cannon anymore. Or, if I am the cannon, it's only because I have somehow offended the super sized mosquito's ancestors and it has spent its entire life honing itself in the arts of Mosquito Fu for its one chance to wreak its vengeance upon me!"

Anko-sensei took a moment observing me after my outburst before shaking her head. "Don't be ridiculous Naruto. The art of Mosquito Fu has been lost for generations."

I turned my head to stare my sensei in the eye. "Anko-senpai, since joining your team I have slowly lost all emotion, save for a cold, burning hatred of you."

"You're cute, kid," Anko said, smiling and patting my head. "But I don't date Genin."

'Dammit!' I thought to myself as Anko ducked into the door to the Hokage Tower. 'Oh well, maybe the old man will know. He is the professor after all.'

Content with my course of action, I followed the rest of my team inside to report in.

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

"Team 9 reporting in for successful completion of D-rank mission designated 'spring cleaning'," Anko told the Hokage and Iruka, the occupants of the mission assignment desk.

The old man nodded his understanding. "Well done. That makes a total of twenty D rank missions that Team 9 has accomplished in the past month. You are to be commended for your efforts. Would you like another mission for today? We still have several available."

Anko took a moment to think before shaking her head. "No thanks, Hokage-sama, that was our second mission today, and it's getting late already."

Nodding again, this time his acceptance, the Hokage responded, "Very well, your pay vouchers are with the receptionist on the way out. Dismissed."

Quest updated: The Daily Grind

-Meet your team for training on Training Ground 37 at 0800 tomorrow morning.

I ignored the script and gave old man Hokage a sharp salute. Anko, Ami, and Hibachi all made for the door, while I remained behind. Sarutobi waited until we were alone before asking the reason I stayed.

"Yes Naruto? Is there something you wanted to say?"

"Yes, old man. But it was a simple question, unrelated to my team or the mission."

"Well? What is it?" Sarutobi coaxed in a grandfatherly voice.

"Well, I noticed that all of the animals around here are strange…"

He arched an aged eyebrow at that. "How so?"

"It seems as if all of the animals here are enhanced. They are either stronger, larger, and generally of a sour temperament, or they are smarter and faster, to the point that they can learn human speech. Why is that?" I asked, a bit nervous as I always seem to have been when talking about a subject I was ignorant about.

Sarutobi had retrieved his pipe when I was asking the question, and he was in the process of loading and lighting it. I waited while he gave a few experimental puffs before he seemed ready to answer.

"That's a good question, Naruto. I am glad you asked it. Your scores in the academy suggested a very poor awareness of your surroundings, but to notice such a thing, you must have improved in your time under Anko."

He gave a few experimental puffs while I struggled between correcting him about where I received added perception, and imagining the mental image conjured by the phrase, 'under Anko'.

Yeah, I'm virtually on hair trigger here. Fuck puberty.

"It all has to do with the concept of chakra," the Hokage began, tearing me from my testosterone fuelled torment. "Chakra was originally granted to everyone of all nations by the Sage of the Six Paths, whom I'm sure you've heard of."

I nodded here. After all, who hadn't heard of the mighty Sage? The guy was such a legend, he might as well have had his own religion. "Well, I say granted, but according to ancient accounts, all the Sage did was to teach people how to use it and explain what it was," Sarutobi stated, settling into his chair into a position I had dubbed in my first life as the 'lecturer's seat'.

"From there, there was done much research into the exact nature of chakra, its effects and its origin. What was found still causes much debate to this very day. There is a crossing and connecting web of chakra beneath our feet. It is often compared to the chakra points that every human has. What's more is that at every nexus point of this vast web of chakra, there were found mighty beasts, growing tens if not hundreds of times the size of their normal counterparts. It didn't take a genius of any stretch of the imagination to figure out the reason behind such monstrous creatures. The chakra was mutating them, making them stronger, faster, smarter. This spawned a series of more experiments, but this time on what effect that same chakra would have a civilian, and on a shinobi. The results were remarkably similar to the animals, with the exception of the increase in size. The shinobi, and the civilians, both had grown smarter, faster, stronger, but more importantly, both were possessed of a higher reserve of chakra than what they had originally."

I was stunned after that bombshell, waiting to hear more about this mystery.

"This research stopped a war, and started one soon after. The clan wars that marked the time before the villages were gone in an instant. Replacing it were the clans that had banded together fighting a new war over the greatest nexus points of chakra, the places that we know today as the five great hidden villages. When the great hidden villages were formed, that marked the beginning of the end for the first great shinobi war."

Reclining from the 'lecturer's seat', Sarutobi asked a final question. "Does that answer your question Naruto?"

I nodded slowly. "I believe so… So we live here because it grants us additional power over a period of time, while it does the same thing to the enormous monsters that reside throughout Konoha."

"We certainly don't live here because we're well hidden," Sarutobi chuckled. "We have a road coming right up to the front gate. The lesser hidden villages take the 'hidden' part of their title a lot more seriously, though."

"I can understand that, but why don't we have a force of shinobi come in and just wipe out all of the oversized creatures?" I asked impatiently.

Frowning the Hokage returned, "Well, that would deal with the problem temporarily. But then next year, more animals would come in to the empty grounds, and they in turn would grow and present themselves as a challenge. Not to mention the cost it would take for the village to wipe out all those monsters. But you are forgetting something, Naruto."

Looking up, and genuinely befuddled, I could only answer, "I don't know what I am forgetting."

"This is a ninja village, Naruto. Why would I willingly get rid of such a valuable training asset, like a giant forest full of monsters that my shinobi can fight against to hone their skill? It makes no sense."

He waited a beat before adding with a dry grin, "And we wouldn't want to make things too easy, now would we?"

Giving a sigh, I answered, "I suppose not, old man."

A knock on the door interrupted further conversation as the receptionist came in. After getting permission to speak, she informed the Hokage that several teams were waiting outside the door. After she left, he turned back to me. "We will have to continue this another time. Perhaps over a bowl of ramen," he suggested.

"As long as you're paying."

After he finished chuckling, we said our farewells.

Stopping long enough to pick up my check, a lousy 16 ryo, I made my way to the merchant street by my building.

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

'_Aside from the experience that I get whenever I kill a monster,_' I thought to myself as I stepped towards the famous jutsu parlour, _Fire and Ice_. '_The one good thing from going on all of these D ranks is the fact that they're a little boost in my pay-check every day. In addition to basic Genin pay that covers living expenses and all that, I have plenty to both get by and afford certain splurges. All of the 3100 ryo I got from missions, and the additional 2000 that I've received from selling my loot has gone into the 'I-want-my-fucking-Shadow-Clones-back-you-bastards ' fund. After I started training under Anko and started pestering her every day for aforementioned technique, which she has denied multiple times and often violently, I started collecting all of my monies to put forward into the effort of reclaiming at least one piece of my old self. The most awesome piece._'

I walked into the jutsu dealer with a purpose. Striding confidently, hope welling within me with each step taken. I could feel myself quickly approaching a rapturous state, so intent was I on getting that Multiple Shadow Clones technique.

I made my way up to the counter, a grin forming on my face. The old man manning the desk looked up from the book that he had been reading, gave a smile of his own, and said to me. "Hello there! How can I help you today?"

Barely keeping a bit of a waver out of my voice I asked him for my heart's desire. "I would like a scroll for the Multiple Shadow Clone technique, please!"

"No."

I stood for a moment or so as that answer sank in.

"What? Why not?" I basically shouted. He looked at me for a moment before answering as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"First and foremost, you're a Genin. That means that you have permission to purchase D-rank jutsu, or be taught C-rank jutsu by your sensei. Just the Shadow Clone technique by itself is a B ranked forbidden technique, so that means that right away you can't buy it. And even if you did have the authorization to buy, I couldn't sell it to you. It was declared as forbidden, meaning that it is forbidden to sell or to teach that technique. The only people who even know it anymore are the ANBU, and everyone who was Special Jounin rank or higher until four years ago."

The horror of my reaction was delayed as my curiosity forced me to speak. "Why? What happened four years ago?"

After a grunt, he turned back to his book. "Some poor idiot got himself dead thanks to a brain tumour from overusing the technique."

"Well how does that work?"

"Well-" He grunted again, either in annoyance or from turning to face me. "A tumour is a-"

Holding up a hand, I said "I know, what a tumour is. The question was 'Why did he get one'."

"From the memory feedback, of course." He put in a surly voice.

I was really tempted to strangle this guy. "_What_ memory feedback?"

He must have finally realized that I wanted the full story as he turned towards me fully.

"After each shadow clone is created, it separates the physical part of chakra and the mental part. The physical part is used to make the body, while the mental part is used to formulate the autonomous nature of the technique. Now the clone goes and does whatever it was supposed to do. Then when it is destroyed, the physical part of the chakra is dispersed, while the mental part returns to the clones creator, returning with it all the memories that the clone experienced during its lifetime. That process is called the memory feedback and that is why this technique was originally B rank before being forbidden outright."

Looking at me for another moment, the old man sank back into his chair, and turned back to his book, ignorant of the rampant amount of disappointment, self-loathing, rage, and general bad feelings that raged through my mind.

'_So, just to recap,_' I thought, adopting a sarcastic tone. '_We have the shadow clone technique, a technique that I was rather infamous for in my previous life, that takes an abundance of chakra to use, so I was the only one to use hundreds of them in the capacity that I did and it had a bonus feature that I never knew about. A feature that, if improperly applied, could have killed me, and if properly applied, could have made me more powerful than virtually anyone I know. And no one told me._'

I_ paused at this thought, trying to quell the bile and rage I felt for my silver haired former teacher. 'And now that I do know about this awesome feature, and now that I have the intelligence to utilize it to the fullest, I am unable to have it._'

At this point, it took all my willpower not to scream in frustration. Instead, I turned my attention back to the geezer behind the counter.

"Do you have any clone techniques that I CAN purchase?" I ground out with exaggerated patience.

"Nope," the old man said simply. "Just got in this water clone, but that's a C rank. Could sell it to you if you were a Chuunin, but," he gave a shrug "oh, well."

"Do you have _any_ techniques I can buy?" I ground out, having nearly run out of patience with this increasingly fruitless quest.

"Yes, actually. I have the temporary paralysis technique, a technique used to paralyse your opponents, and good for capturing low ranked targets and civilians alive. I have the classic Demonic Illusion, Hell Viewing technique, an obvious genjutsu used to show the victims worst fear."

Thinking over quickly, I said to the annoying store clerk. "I won't buy anything yet, but I might be back later."

Accepting that with standard ambivalence, the old man never looked at me as I walked out the door.

Once I was outside however, I finally made my emotional state known.

"_Mother fucking shit fucking hell on a hand basket's retarded shit stain_!"

After taking some time screaming at the sky for the various wrongs done upon me and the ways in which I would get my retribution, I calmed down.

Remembering the beta option if something like this were to happen, I made my way to the next store.

Walking past piles of fuzzy blankets and brightly coloured stuffed animals was a notable difference than the walls stacked with lethal implements and deadly techniques were in the stores I had been in thus far.

Making my way up to the counter, the lady standing there with a moose hat turned to me and shouted jauntily, "_Welcome to Mooby's Moving_! How can I help you today?"

Taking a pause till my ears stopped ringing, I informed the clerk that I wanted, "A comfortable bed, with blankets, at a reasonable price."

"_Okey-dokey_! You want the comfortable bed package, but do you want a single, or a double?"

Staving off a migraine, I gritted out. "One bed, I want _one_ bed."

She giggled a bit at that, which only raised my blood pressure. "No, you big silly, single and double are mattress sizes!"

Pausing to consider, I asked "What do they each cost?"

"The single costs 2500 ryo, and the double costs around 3250 ryo."

Seeing my shocked face, she quickly added, "But that includes the mattress, box springs, independent bed frame, matching blankets, and same day delivery."

Taking a moment to consider, I shrugged. "All right, I'll take the double with orange blankets."

"_Okay_!" she shouted while I counted out the cash.

"It'll be waiting for you when you get home!"

'_At least I can sleep well with this,_' I thought before marching discontentedly out the door, heading home for an early night.

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

About 15 minutes after I had left the furniture store, it was about 6 in the afternoon, or 1800, and I was still infuriated at my thus far many unsuccessful attempts at getting back my best jutsu.

Stomping grouchily on the way home, I had the additional misfortune of stumbling into trash bins set out for collection.

I stifling a curse, I was able to hear a short feminine gasp from behind some of the bins.

"Huh?" I asked alertly. "Who is that? Show yourself!"

From behind the bins rose the very adorable, quite frightened, and only slightly messy Hyuuga heir.

"Oh... hi Hinata, I didn't see you behind there," I began awkwardly.

"N-N-Narut-to-k-kun…" she stuttered, not looking me in the eye and looking like she must have been a million degrees in that thick coat her face was so red.

I waited, thinking that she was going to say something. After about 30 seconds of silence I decided to break the silence.

"What are you doing behind those trash cans?"

"I-i-I w-w-was… I dropped my, uh, my ryo purse, a-a-and I was j-just look-king for it."

Thankful for a way out of the awkward silence so far, I smiled at her. "Well, I'll help you then!" I said loudly, immediately searching the rubbish closest to me, and trying to think of a good way to strike up a conversation.

It took about ten minutes before Hinata called out that she had found it. '_Which is weird,_' I thought looking over at a slightly sullied Hinata, '_I could have sworn I checked that bin…_'

Unfortunately, the revelation of the ryo purse only led to another awkward lull. '_I knew that I would have to eventually talk to her in order to hang out with her and actually get to know her, but I thought that she would at least say something..._' I then considered the conundrum of expecting someone to talk whom I was only trying to get to know because she doesn't talk.

We were both just standing still and I was about to start praying for a miracle or an ice breaker or a conversation starter or anything, when one came in the form of a very embarrassing gurgle.

And suddenly... well, let's just say I had never before heard, or heard of, a stomach growling as loudly as mine just did and I swear I felt like I could die on the spot.

"Hee-hee," I turned to stare at Hinata, who at this point was pretty red and holding a hand over her mouth.

'_But it seems to have done the trick._'

"Sorry about that," I said, nervously rubbing the back of my neck. "I was just heading home to eat and rest when I bumped into you here."

Looking her in her pale eyes, I asked her, "Hey, you haven't eaten dinner, have you?"

"N-n-no, N-Naruto-kun…"

"Would you like to?"

Hinata didn't say anything, although her mouth kept moving. Her face was getting redder and redder and I thought that she was going to faint into the garbage. At the last second though, she pulled herself together and gave a single nod, staring at her own steepled index fingers, furiously pressing them together.

"Any place you had in mind...?" I trailed off, letting her have time to fill in the blank should she desire to do so. My only answer was a small head shake.

"No? Well, I have an idea, and I think you might like it! I know I will!" I reached over and grabbed her hand. "Come on, I'll show it to you."

I saw her staring at my hand as I turned back around and started pulling her towards the best restaurant in town, a place called Ichiraku's.

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

Jogging over to the ramen stand, I burst through the curtains covering it.

"Two hungry customers, old man!" I shouted, before letting go of Hinata's hand and clambering up onto one of the stools at the bar.

"Naruto, good to see you!" Teuchi shouted before coming out of the kitchen.

"Ah, and who is this sheer image of loveliness you brought with you today, Naruto?" he praised when his eyes fell on Hinata. She seemed to pull in on herself at that, so I answered for her.

"Oh, Hinata, this is Teuchi Ichiraku. Old man, this is Hinata Hyuuga. She's the girl I told you about a while ago," I said, referencing the first conversation I had with the man in my new life.

"Oh yes, and you brought her to my stand? For your first date?" he asked, cleaning a pair of drinking glasses.

"Of course!" I said, before I realized that I just said that Hinata and I are on a date. Looking over at her, I saw that she was so red, she could've probably cooked her own dinner right on her forehead.

"_I mean_-" I shouted before giving a small cough. "It's not a date, we are just hanging out, eating dinner, getting to know one another a little better."

Teuchi kind of stared at me for a minute with a strange look on his face. "I can't tell if you are joking or not."

"Old man!" I moaned, head slumping to the bar.

He just laughed at that. "Now what can I get for you two on your completely-not-date."

I leered at him before my hunger persuaded me to forgive him… for now. "Well, I would like two bowls of miso ramen, and one of pork and a glass of milk."

I glanced over at Hinata who seemed to be critically investigating the menu. "M-miso and wat-ter, please," she said in a soft, quiet voice.

"Right away!"

"Thanks old man!"

"Th-Th-Tha-Thank y-you, Ichiraku-s-san."

The old man left us sitting there as once again silenced stretched. I looked at her as she carefully peered at the wooden bar in front of her. I looked away and I think she then looked at me. I couldn't tell because every time I tried to catch her she would seem to still be peering at the wooden bar.

"So," I drawled. "Do you come here often?" I said jokingly, trying to break the unbearable silence. For some reason though she got really red at that, and shook her head violently.

"No? Have you ever been here?" I asked, trying to get a conversation out of this girl.

"N-no, N-narut-to-kun," she said so softly I could barely hear her.

"Sorry, I didn't hear that. I was playing with explosive tags today, so my hearing is a bit off."

A blatant lie, but one only made to get her to speak up a bit. I can't carry on this conversation all by my lonesome.

"No, N-Naruto-kun," she said it with a little more conviction this time. "I hav-ven't."

"Well, you're in for a treat then. No one makes ramen like Teuchi. He has got to be the best ramen maker in the world!" I exclaimed gesturing dramatically, before grabbing the bar and trying to stay on my rickety stool. She giggled again at that, which I took as a sign I was going in the right direction.

"This place and I have kind of a long history together. Goes way back before I even started the academy. Way back, nearly eight or nine years ago now, the Hokage himself to me out for ramen here."

Hinata's eyes grew wide at that.

"Oh yeah, I was playing on the jungle gym by myself, outside of the orphanage, that's where I used to live, when he came by and I saw him for the first time. He was surrounded by people then, well-wishers and his mighty ANBU ninja force. But I remember that he looked at me. Shirking off the attention of all the people around him, he came over to me. I was worried at first, because he just seemed to be an old guy I didn't know, a powerful and popular one at that. But then he asked me why I was playing alone. I told him it was because all the other kids were already playing a game of ninja, and there wasn't a spot left for me. Then he asked if I thought I was going to get to play any time soon. I answered no, a good game of ninja takes a long time, sometimes hours. He just nodded and asked if I was hungry. I said, yeah, they don't feed you much at the orphanage, if anything at all. So he invited me to lunch with him. If I was suspicious before, I was alarmed then. I asked him who he was and what he wanted. At that point he kind of got all solemn, and he kneeled down to look me in the eye. I clearly remember him saying, '_My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi. I am a father of two wonderful children. I am a mourning husband. I am a shinobi. I am a veteran of many wars and many battles. I am revered and hated by all who would dare to oppose me. I am loved and adored by all whom I protect. I am the lord and master over all ninja in the Land of Fire. I am the Third Hokage. And I am hungry._'"

I laughed at the last bit, Hinata really letting loose with a weak giggle as well. "I still remember laughing at that last bit. But then I asked him why he would want to have lunch with me, when he had so many friends already with all the people waiting for him outside the orphanage gates. He said to me, '_None of them are you. And no child should eat alone on their birthday._' I was amazed at that bit too. I asked how could he know that it was my birthday. He just kinda smiled and said, '_You have to know these kinds of things when you're Hokage._' And with that, he dismissed all of his people and we came here to have a quiet lunch, and the rest is history."

I looked over at my dat-smmf…not-date, my friend. She looked at me with wide lavender eyes, like she was overwhelmed by something, or surprised. Christ, I need more Perception. I decided to finish off with a joke. "Still don't have a clue how he knew my birthday."

She giggled again. It sounded like little bells tinkling.

"He was a short, little waif back then!" Teuchi shouted, bringing out the four bowls of ramen. Setting them down, he gave me a critical once over. "'Course, not much has changed since then."

I gave a short snort, broke my chopsticks.

"Yeah," I said, in between mouthfuls of ramen. "Since then, I've always been coming here for any celebration, big or small. It's where Iruka and I came whenever I did really well on a test, or after a really great prank that I would have to clean up afterwards. It's where old man Hokage takes me on my birthday. It's special to me." I looked over at her as I say it. "Do you have any place like that?"

She started chewing on her lip and it took her a minute to give a slow, cautious nod. I didn't saying anything though, I was waiting for her to tell me about it. '_If she can tell me about a special place of hers then I can actually know something about her that she has told me about herself._'

"I h-have a gar-rden." And with that quiet declaration my hope soared.

'_Maybe I won't be the only one to talk here._'

She took another thirty seconds or so before continuing. "It used to b-be my m-mother's. She took me there when I was a child. She showed me all of the different flowers that she would grow. Her favourites were the cymbidium orchids, but I always liked the chrysanthemums more."

I was riveted to my seat. '_I think that was the longest I have ever heard her go without stuttering_. Crap! _I have to keep it going now…_' Thinking hard, I decided to continue with the garden theme.

"Do you still go?"

She jumped a little at that. "Y-Yes. I l-look aft-ter it n-now."

'_And there's that stutter again. I have to intercede quickly before she withdraws back into her shell!_'

"I like lilies. White ones." She looked up at me. "Although I really like lavender as well."

She started blushing a bit, as out came a small smile.

"I have a garden too. Well," I said, interrupting myself. "I have a plant. His name is Ukkun. His is a prickly soul." My dramatic sigh sent her into a fit of giggles.

"You don't know how to take care of a cactus, do you?"

She nodded and spoke up. "They're among th-the easiest t-to look after. You just n-need to give them sp-pare a-amounts of water, no more th-than a cup every t-two weeks, and change the soil ev-very other w-week."

"How long have you been tending that garden? You sound like you really know your stuff."

"W-well..."

And she began explaining how long she had been personally working her mother's garden with me asking more and more question about what was quickly becoming apparent as one of her serious hobbies.

Minutes quickly turned to two hours as we discussed at length almost anything imaginable about gardening, food having long ago been forgotten. As the hour approached 10 in the evening though, she noticed the time. She said how her father was worried, or would be expecting her before she left, quickly said goodbye, and quickly ran off, sticking me with the bill.

That was the first time I had ever discussed anything with Hinata at length, and the only time in either life where I could actually say I knew something about her.

Paying the bill, I left for home.

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

'_I think that went pretty well,_' I thought to myself, closing my apartment door. '_I'm feeling better now than I have the whole day._' Taking a quick shower, I readied myself for bed after a long day.

'_But now,_' I rounded the corner to my bedroom, staring at the space where used to rest my old ratty cot and hole ridden blanket, '_For the icing on the bun._'

I stared at the comparatively massive bed and frame, taking up easily another three and a half square feet of bed space, and the bright, thick, orange comforters that covered it.

Sliding between the cool sheets that rested upon the bed, the last thing to race through my head as dreams claimed me was, '_Oh yeah, totally worth the money._'

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

After I woke up, I quickly threw on a dark green t-shirt, and dark blue shinobi shorts, fixed myself a fast breakfast, and scurried out the door, determined not to be late for team training.

'_There are some places snakes aren't meant to be,_' I thought, shivering as I recalled the punishment Anko-senpai bestowed upon latecomers.

Racing into training ground 37, an open field where Anko always has us start the day, I slowed as I saw that I was only the second one there. Checking my watch, I cursed as I realized that I was 15 minutes early. '_That is fifteen minutes better spent in a shower…or sleeping. Mmmmm... sleeeeeep..._'

Plopping down against a tree beside my teammate, I enjoyed all of five glorious seconds of silence before she had to go and open her mouth.

"So I saw you last night at the ramen stand..." Ami said, to my consternation.

I waited a moment for her to continue, but to my surprise it took her a little while to actually finish her sentence.

"I was going to say hi, but you looked pretty busy," she finished, looking at nails that were apparently not clean enough for her standards.

"Yeah..." I drawled, waiting for her point to rear its ugly, misbegotten head.

"So who was she?"

'Ah, the point. Curiosity and idle gossip go hand in hand it seems.'

"Hinata and I ran into each other last night, we started talking and then we decided to grab some noodles for dinner, talk about the good times at the academy," I said, hoping to gloss over the awkwardness of it all, especially at the beginning.

"Really?" she drawled with a wolfish smile, "Nothing at all to do with you propositioning her and her falling unconscious back at graduation?"

"W-What?" I sputtered, completely losing my somewhat bored look, "Propositioning?! I was... I just wanted to hang out was all! Get to know her!"

"Ah, ah, I wasn't insinuating anything," she stated, holding up her hands defensively. "Besides, it's good that you two aren't actually dating."

'_This took a turn..._' "What do you mean by that?"

"Well," she started, cocking her head to the said like some jilted falcon. "First off, she's _super_ shy. I mean honestly, people wonder why she even became a ninja if she is just going to start poking her fingers together whenever she gets nervous around an opponent. That's not even mentioning how often she faints!"

At this point, Ami actually shook her head, as if talking about Hinata depressed her. "Then there is her family. The Hyuuga are some of the most stiff necked, uptight assholes in the entire village, possibly even Fire Country. And those guys will be the ones watching your every moment together with her, even going so far as to use their all seeing eyes to see what you're doing in private, never letting you two have time alone. I mean," she waved a hand. "They _would_ be, if you two were dating, which you're not."

"Finally, there is her status of clan heir. Now I've heard some _juicy_ gossip that she actually won't have that position long because she keeps losing taijutsu bouts with her kid sister. I mean, honestly! But with her status as heir, that means that she either will be married off to someone of importance in order to gain their allegiance to the Hyuuga clan, or she will be married to someone else in her clan to keep the bloodline going, _or _she _does_ lose her status as _heir_, in which case, I have no idea what happens afterwards. Rumour has it that they take the failures out of active duty and keep them in their compound for the rest of their lives." Sitting back like a well fed cat, Ami brushed her bang away from her eye, observing my reaction.

"That all sounds pretty manageable to whomever she dates, but as we've already established, that isn't me," I reinforced, thinking back over her points.

'_First off, Hinata is pretty shy, that's true, but she also has some pretty bad-ass moments under her belt... or will have, whatever. Point being that she is cool on the confidence, because when the clock is ticking down she will stand beside her friends and face the enemy. Second, her family can be dicks, that's true too, just look at Neji for crying out loud. But then again, look at Neji. He was a major jerk wad before I knew him, but then one ass kicking later he's Mister Family Man. I'm pretty sure that Hinata's dad was less of a dick after that match as well. So I'm not really worried about her family, except for them perving in with those see-through-anything eyes. Finally, her clan heir status. Now if I could get her family to stop being dicks and accept me as a good person, and eventually future Hokage, then that should not even be a problem._' I sighed when I realized a potent flaw in my logic. '_But this is all hypothetical, because I'm not dating Hinata. I'm not._'

I was spared further analysis and talk with Ami as at that moment, Anko-sensei came onto the field, dragging Hibachi with her snakes.

"What's up, cunts?" Anko shouted happily when she was close enough. Hibachi just kind of moaned.

"Apparently prostate checks, sensei," I said, giving a cautious eye to Hibachi's discomfort.

Continuing to smile, Anko retorted, "Aw, you think you're funny." The fact that she was smiling persuaded me not to say anything else on the matter. If something was bringing her joy, it was only because it would be bringing someone else pain in a few moments.

Seeming to sense my internal struggle to _not_ spit out a sarcastic remark, like 'Please, I'm adorable' or 'I _know_ I'm funny', she just patted my damn head and said, "That's a good brat! You're leaning!" Dismissing her snakes, she waited for us all to stand in line at attention.

Quest updated: The Daily Grind

-Speak with sensei

"Okay kiddies, two lessons for you today before we head out for our daily missions. One on stealth, and one on jutsu. We'll start with the former and work our way to the latter. Now, our lesson in stealth today begins with simple observation. Can any of you tell me why I dress like this?" she finally asked, motioning to her not at all concealed breasts.

Hibachi spoke up first. "Easier access?"

"No. Well," she said, rolling her eyes and shrugged. "Not specifically. Good observation but not the one we're going for today. Next, poser."

Ami waited a moment before answering. "Is it because you just want perverts to stare at your tits?"

"Yes, if by perverts you mean everyone. By wearing this outfit, I can tell something about you by the way you react to it. If you fall slobbering over the ladies, then you're a pervert and I can use that against you. If you snort derisively and pointedly look away, then you're either a prude, or jealous, and I can use either of those against you. If you are looking straight at the ground or pointedly at something while you get a bit of a blush, then you're a shy pervert and I can use that as well. If you just completely ignore my assets and emotionlessly continue on about your daily life, then that tells me that the effort that I would have to put into getting you to notice my damn fine curves would most likely not be worth it, and that I should pursue another course of action if you and I were ever to get into combat."

Sensei took another look around at that point, most likely seeing if we were paying attention. It was Ami who spoke next.

"But what does any of that have to do with stealth?"

"Good question, if a bit impatient. The point of that little speech was that my clothes have a point. A purpose! I wear them so that they have a desired effect!" Anko-sensei locked eyes with me. "Blondie, describe the outfits of a Chuunin of the Bloody Mist."

Thanking whomever for my high intelligence so I wouldn't be anally raped by a python, I analysed. "Chuunin of Kirigakure often wear a tarp-like cloak to stave off the frequent storms and wet conditions of their homeland, while also wearing tough leather boots instead of our sandals. They wear light pants and shirts that are easily dried."

I went silent while Anko made a move along gesture. I searched for a moment before adding, "They also wear a re-breather kit, or gas mask, depending on the situation."

"Exactly!" Anko-sensei shouted loudly, jabbing her finger at the lost expression on my face. "Brat, tell me, if you were to dress up in a very concealing cloak, a forehead protector worn like a bandanna, a pair of shades, a re-breather kit, and all the other clothing you just listed, who would recognize you, other than, say, the Hokage and other high level shinobi?"

Taking a moment to picture myself in such a get up, I answered. "Probably no one, provided I grew by about a foot. The average Chuunin is a bit taller than me."

"Yeah, but there's the lesson kids. If you are going to be wearing something during missions outside of the village, make sure you have an advantage, give yourself an edge in combat, conceal your abilities, blend in."

She looked at Hibachi's face for a second before continuing. "Now, each of you tell me an outfit that would give you an advantage during the scenario I say. Hibachi, you're up first and your scenario is that you are fighting against two shinobi about your size from Kumo, and you are fighting on a wide open, rocky, empty plain."

His face crumpled into a thinking frown, not an expression he used often I assure you, before he grinned widely. "I would wear their outfits!"

Anko waited for an explanation before sighing and asking for one.

"Oh, right. Well whenever they use one of their flashy lightning jutsu I could jump over to their side of the field and pretend I was one of them, and back stab the one that trusts me."

Nodding her head in mocking appreciation, Anko-sensei pointed at Ami next. "Your scenario is that you are trying to extract information from an enemy ninja holed up in a geisha house."

She replied, scoffing, "I would obviously dress up as a geisha then, and convince him to reveal his plans."

Anko laughed at that. "No, you have neither the years required nor the training to even pretend to be a geisha, not to mentions I said enemy ninja, not civilians. You could very well be extracting information from a kunoichi. The better answer would have to dress up as a servant, and then pay for a tray and alcohol to bring to the ninja, lace the alcohol with a higher grade of alcohol, claim it's either on the house, or from someone else, whom you either pay off or convince to go along with your plan. Then sit back and watch the alcohol do its magic. Now, blondie, your situation is that you are tailing a target to find the location of their secret meeting."

I gestured at my present clothes and say "Without the goggles or the metal of my forehead protector."

"Why?" Anko-sensei asked seriously, either considering my answer or the size and breed of snake needed to penetrate my virgin asshole and cause maximum suffering. God, was my life simpler the first time around.

"The colours dark green and dark blue blend in naturally during the night and evening, which I suppose is when a secret meeting would be held. They also will blend in naturally enough with a crowd and are perfectly acceptable for clothes on a child. I lose the identifying marks of my goggles and my protector, while keeping the bandanna to keep my hair down as blonde hair reflects light and makes me easier to spot. I suppose the correct answer might be to continuously transform myself into different people so as to throw off any scent of detection."

She nodded at that and I felt my ass relax at the thought of imminent invasion being postponed for at least a little while. "Good answer, except for the transformation business. You should know better than anyone the odds of the enemy having a sensor are pretty high, being a sensor yourself," she winked, and my ass clenched until she stood up.

"Okay, that was done faster than I thought it would be, so you are all in for a bit of a treat. Today, instead of practising your old techniques, you are all going to be learning a new one, and then we are going to be having a bit of a race."

Quest updated: The Daily Grind

-Learn and practice the technique

I raised my hand. "Is it the shadow clone technique we're learning?"

My hand got a kunai through it courtesy of our resident snake mistress. "No, and you seriously need to stop asking me that. It was funny the first fifteen times, it's not funny the next three hundred. Also, how would those matter in a race? No, today, we are going to be learning the body flicker technique!" With a few hand-seals, Anko-sensei disappeared to the far end of the training ground with a swirl of leaves in her wake. After a few seconds she came back, again leaving a cascade of leaves behind.

"This technique is generally considered Chuunin level, so I wouldn't be surprised if none of you got on the first try. What it does is massively accelerates your speed to the point where you seem to disappear to civilians. Now, it is hard to control, and ninja generally use it for running really fast in a single direction, because turning at high speed is kinda a bitch."

'_Look who's talking..._' I grumbled mentally as I pulled the kunai out of my hand, and gave it back to sensei. She threw it at me again the last time I kept it or put it anywhere else other than her hand, so... yeah.

"So here is a scroll with the body flicker in it. Study it carefully," she ordered before handing the scroll to Hibachi. He took about _ten fucking minutes_ with it too before passing it on. After another six or seven minutes had passed, it was my turn, and I opened my inventory to the Aid menu as soon as I got it.

'Ninjutsu scroll: Body Flicker: Requirements: Ninjutsu 40, Chakra Control 25'

I smirked. '_Oh yeah, I'm gonna rock this._'

Activating it, I could almost feel it as my body learned the technique.

"Okay, you all got the theory? Good! Let's take a couple of practice runs then. Naruto, you start."

I formed seals quickly before crying out "Body flicker technique!". Then I ran face first into the ground. I was dimly aware of my team laughing behind as I spat out a worm.

"All right, _next_!" Anko shouted, whacking Ami on her head. I rolled out of the way as a shout of "Body flicker technique!" was followed by a dull thud. I picked myself up as Ami was doing the same out of my hole.

"That whiplash is a bitch, huh?" Anko snorted. "Also, watch out for that tunnel vision. You have to lean back a bit when you start, or else or else you'll just end up eating dirt."

Hibachi nodded before ending up in exactly the same place the rest of us did.

"Okay! Get back on your feet, time for take two! We're gonna have that dream in fifteen minutes," Anko announced, dragging Hibachi to his feet. She stared at us for a few seconds before shouting. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get to work!"

Facing a direction I was sure the others weren't, I set to work. Concentrating on a point about 50 yards from me, I went through the hand seals, leaned back a bit, and shouted "Body flicker technique!"

I felt my legs rocket forward and nearly catapult me into the ground again. I stopped running immediately, and I felt my legs fly out from under me, as I fell on my back.

"Urgh," caveman hurt. I got back up and focused on a tree about 40 yards away. I performed the technique again and kept my legs underneath me. I felt myself flying over the land, the whole world a blur except for that tree right in front of me. I tried to stop but in my effort to keep my feet under me, I slid right into the trunk of my target tree. As I peeled myself out of the tree, I could definitely see an imprint of myself there. '_I need to get this right before I give myself brain damage._'

The next try, I ran into the middle of the training ground without stopping or wiping the fuck out. '_Noticeable improvement,_' I thought before trying it again, and then again , and then again.

'_Now to work on turning,_' I thought, running through the seals once again, I took off, the landscape whizzing past as I tried to turn around, only managing a seemingly a sluggish turn to face the rest of my group. Seeing Anko waving at me in the distance, I figured that practice was over. Using my newest trick, I raced over to the rest of the group, even managing to stop myself in line with the rest of them.

"Smooth moves. Now, for the race it's to the tree there."

She pointed at a tree on the opposite side of the field. "And back again, first person to do it wins a special prize!"

'_I know this probably gives me a one track mind, but I really hope it's my damned jutsu,_' I thought before assuming a starting position, my hands inches apart.

Quest updated: The Daily Grind

-Race to the finish line to win a prize

"On your marks! Get set! Go!"

Flipping through the seals I gave a shout and took off towards the goal, my teammates hot on my heels. The tree was about 200 yards away from us at the beginning of the race. Hibachi and I reached in just short of six seconds.

I focused on the tree as I ran, a crazy idea being made in my great ninja brain. '_Jeez, that sounds so corny._' Nearing the tree, I cancelled my jutsu a few feet early, allowing me to slow down. Then, to keep my momentum, I partially ran up the tree, launching myself off of it, running through the hand-seals for the technique as I went. Shouting when I hit the ground, I began speeding towards the finish line. That cool move must have cost me a second though, because Hibachi was in the lead by about fifty yards. Nearing the end again, I found myself unable to close the distance. Crossing the finish line, Hibachi tried to stop only to wipe out and land at sensei's feet. Crossing a second later, I at least had the pleasure of beating Ami, who crossed three seconds after I did.

"Notes on the race," Anko-sensei began. "Hibachi, you came in first, but you still don't have it down all the way yet, keep working on it and it can become a powerful addition to your arsenal, especially when you need to disappear. Naruto, you already have good control over it, but you made a stupid mistake running up that tree. Stopping and reversing on the ground would have been faster, not to mention that jumping into the air is a bad habit to get into. Sure, it looks really cool and flashy doing it, but in the air you lose manoeuvrability, and you become an easy target. Don't make that mistake ever again," she said, and jammed an accusing finger in my face.

"Yes sensei," I replied meekly.

"Finally, Ami. You kept good control over your technique, but you weren't fast enough. The body flicker technique amplifies your natural speed many times over, but if you aren't fast initially it won't do as much for you as it will for others. So my advice is to work on your speed after missions are over for the day."

"Yes sensei," Ami panted.

"Aside from that, good job, brats. I was expecting this to take a lot longer, so you all have until noon for lunch or whatever before we take our missions for the day. Hibachi, your lunch is on me for your win.

An exuberant "Yes!" was heard as Hibachi ran off the training ground with sensei in tow, the exact opposite from how he had entered nearly two hours ago.

Quest updated: The Daily Grind

-Meet your team in the Hokage Tower at noon

'_I know, dammit! It's been almost a month now and that stupid pop up has told me to do everything but wipe!_'

Thinking about performing various acts of unforgivable cruelty to whomever created this game – going so far as to set an imaginary Anko on them – I didn't notice the world turning a dull orange.

_Mini games_

Throughout the world of Naruto: Fractured Fate, you will encounter a plethora of various games of differing risks and rewards. These games often have a fee associated with them, but can offer grand prizes. These games are not marked on your map until they are discovered, so get exploring and enjoy the many games around the massive world of Naruto: Fractured Fate!

I sarcastically thought about Hibachi's prize after I closed the message. '_Oh, yes, the great esteemed prize of lunch with Anko! How men must kill for that chance!_'

Thinking about lunch made me hungry though. I was thinking about what kind of ramen I should order for lunch when I heard a soft voice behind me.

"Hey," Ami started shyly.

'Ami... _shy_?' Turning around to look at my usually bitchy teammate I saw her looking down at the ground, her arms behind her back.

"I, uh... just wanted to, you know, say thanks for what you did. Back in the Forest of Death."

I had to think of what she was talking about for a minute before realizing she was talking about my '_Fuck you, bear!_' moment. "You mean that thing that happened a _month_ ago."

"Yeah," Ami said with a bit more confidence.

I shrugged."Well, you would have done it for me too. You did actually. Like literally right beforehand."

She seemed a bit peeved after that statement, as if interrupting her emotions with logic was some sort of sin to be avoided, especially in the case of gratitude.

"Yeah, I'm just saying thanks!" she shouted before stomping off to the edge of the clearing, before stopping and turning back. "And I was gonna say, '_maybe you're not such an asshole after all!_'" Turning back around, she continued her march back towards

'Going back over the brief time that I've been in this life, I would say that's the nicest thing she has ever said to me.' I turned back to the task at hand.

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

It was about 1500 when we finished our first mission for the day. Finding myself once again in front of the Hokage seated at the Mission Assignment desk, with Anko-sensei rattling off the formalities.

"Very good," the Hokage gave a sagely nod. "What would you like for your next mission? I have three more cleaning missions, a babysitting mission, and a capture mission involving the Feudal Lord's wife's cat, Tora."

"Actually, Hokage-sama, I believe that team 9 is ready for its first C-rank."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow. "Really now? Is this your professional opinion?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Anko said. "My team has been working hard and has really been putting their all into their training, and their missions. The dynamic in the team is clear, and missions are near being done without a cross word said."

The Hokage raised his head to stare at all of us. "High praise coming from you, Anko." He waited a second more before nodding. "Very well, if you believe they are ready then ready they are. The C- ranks available are Document Transfer, Escort, or Bandit Removal. Which would you prefer?"

Quest completed: The Daily Grind

1000 experience awarded

**Doom De-de Doom-DOOOM**

Level up!

Anko-sensei seemed to be considering her choice for a moment before announcing, "I think my team would like an escort mission."

"Then I shall introduce you to your client."

I was reeling in shock. I had thought that since Anko had become my sensei, nothing would go at all like my life previous. 'Yet here I am, about to be sent off with a drunken bridge builder to save the land of Wave! And on top of that, another level up!'

"Come in, Yamamoto-san."

And then into the room came a very old impeccably dressed merchant.

'_What the hell?!_'

**AN**

I know, I know, I am sorry that took so long. The scenes with Hinata were just excruciating and I had to bring up my own sordid relationship history to write those bits.

For those who will notice, Naruto DID level up in between chapters, and you'll find out where he put everything next chapter.

To anyone who noticed the quotes and scene rip offs, internet cookies to those who guess them correctly and review, and the recognition of making the Authors Note next chapter! I'll have your user name alongside the quote you recognize.

To the people who were unhappy with my choice as Anko as sensei, well tough. There is a reason I put her in, which all of you can figure out.

Next, to Ophidias, couldn't find your page but you did raise some pretty good points there about all game! Naruto's in general (even if most of those don't really apply to my Naruto), especially about my tenses, so thank you for that. For the rest of it like having foreknowledge of opponents and events, that is going to be mostly useless, as you are going to see over the course of the next few chapters.

To that unnamed stranger who pointed out the inconsistencies with my stat's, thank you, that's been fixed. Let me know if you see any in the future.

To DaOneInDaCorner, thank you, but all credit goes to HTM for the perfect grammar.

The poll deciding which weapon Naruto should wield was decided, and it was a sword. Unoriginal, but I can work with that. So I will try to work that bit in next chapter.

Next chapter is just going to be the 'C-rank', but it might take a little while to write out. I need to write down some other stories, including First Cup; the Emperor's Finest; It's a Mad, Mad World; and the Electric Man. So I don't know when that will come out.

Please Read and Review, I thrive with comments and ideas and criticisms (as long as they have valid points).

Next up is resident Beta, HTM! For those of you whom haven't read his stuff, you should. For those of you that have, read it again. HTM TAKE IT AWAY!

**Editor's note:**

*****sniff sniff* I don't know what to do! WHY?! WHY OH WHY?! WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE AN ESCORT MISSION?! YOU KNOW THAT ESCORT MISSIONS ARE THE WORST OF ALL!

Especially escort missions including slow, old, debilitated people that are rich. Which means they're snobbish. Which means they're assholes. Which means you REALLY don't want to escort them to safety. Which means you want to just leave them.

Best escort mission ever? Bioshock Infinite. At least the one you're escorting actively helps you along the way and has character!


	9. FUBAR Part 1

**Disclaimer**: No, I don't own shit. Now stop asking me and read the damn story already.

_Last time on Naruto: Fractured Fate_

And then into the room came a very old, impeccably dressed, merchant.

'_What the Hell?_'

-0-

_Present_

'_No, seriously. What the hell?!_'

The well-dressed man bowed low before the Hokage before speaking. "I thank you, Hokage-sama, for aiding me in my time of need."

"It is a pleasure, Yamamoto-san, as always," the old man said as he turned back to us.

"Team 9, I would like to introduce you to a business associate of Konoha. This is Higarashi Yamamoto, vice president of Yamamoto Trading."

The old merchant bowed slightly. "A pleasure."

'_Is nothing in this life going to be the same?_' I thought, before turning those thoughts back to the present.

"Business associate?"

The merchant smiled. "Yes, my company, Yamamoto Trading, provides a cornucopia of merchandise. We use caravans to take, say, medicinal supplies from the Land of Vegetables, and then sell those at a slightly elevated price to another country for currency, or for an exchange of goods, such as weapons from the Land of Iron."

I held up a hand waving off further explanation. "I get global economics, the principle anyway. What I asked was what was meant by the term 'business associate'."

Frowning now, the merchant responded. "The company sells its goods to Konoha at a reduced price for missions at no cost and the right to say that Yamamoto Trading is the main supplier of ninja goods to Konoha."

I was nodding along. "So that way no one would mess with your supply train. They fear reprisal from the strongest ninja village." He gave a nod. This only made me more curious though.

"So why are you asking for an escort mission?"

"Well," the Hokage began, "There have been rumours of increased bandit activity in the Land of Rice Fields. Yamamoto-san's caravan is going to go through that land."

"How large is the caravan? Will a Jounin and three Genin be enough to cover it?"

"Yes," the merchant responded with both words and a nod. "This is a new trade route, and as such we only have a few wagons with us this time around. And let's not forget, we are just talking about bandits."

'_Oh, yeah, no way something bad will happen after saying something like that,_' I thought darkly before showing teeth.

"If that wraps up the questioning," Anko-sensei said, interrupting the conversation before it could continue. "We will meet at the gates tomorrow at oh-eight-hundred. Remember to pack for at least a week's journey." Looking around at each of us, she finished with a decisive nod. "Dismissed."

I took this as my cue to leave.

And then the orange screen came up that I had TOTALLY forgotten about.

LEVEL UP

SKILL POINTS REMAINING 21

BARTER – -17+

BUUKIJUTSU, MELEE- -25+

BUUKIJUTSU, RANGED- -30+

CHAKRA CONTROL- -61+

FUUINJUTSU- -32+

GENJUTSU- -30+

LOCKPICKING – -30+

MEDICINE- -22+

NINJUTSU- -50+

SMITHING- -25+

STEALTH- -37+

SPEECH – -32+

TAIJUTSU- -50+

'_Okay, so last time I spent my points on Genjutsu, Stealth and Lockpick, only to bring up my weaknesses. I don't want to run into any important doors I can't open or have to stab myself in order to break a genjutsu._' I took a look over the assembled skills.

'_Last Level Up was all support skills, so now I think I will go with upping my combat skills. I think five for Melee Bukijutsu, and Ranged, and then drop the last points on Ninjutsu, to bring it up to match my Chakra Control._' Giving myself a nod, I made it so and continued to the perks page. Ignoring all of the 'old' perks, I focused on the ones revealed last level up.

Nature Transformation 1:  
Level required: 6  
Stats required: Ninjutsu 35  
Ranks available: 1  
Description: You are now able to begin training in Elemental Affinities. Refer to the guidebook's Elemental Affinities section for special rules.

Focus!:  
Level required: 6  
Stats required: Chakra Control 35  
Ranks available: 1  
Description: You now have the ability to cast techniques without saying its name aloud. Simply focus on the technique you wish to cast, form the hand seals, and it will be done.

Bloody Mess:  
Level required: 6  
Stats required: None  
Ranks available: 1  
Description: +5% overall damage, and funnier, more violent death sequences.

Fortune Finder:  
Level required: 6  
Stats required: Luck 5  
Ranks available: 1  
Description: Considerably more Ryo will be found in containers.

FEEL IT:  
Level required: 6  
Stats required: Chakra Control 40  
Ranks available: 2  
Description: Stretching your senses, you are now able to perceive chakra!  
Level 1, all humanoids your level and below are illuminated on the mini-map, whether they are hiding or not.  
Level 2, sensing area has doubled, and you now gain a little bit of knowledge about each person you sense as well as their chakra levels. In addition, you gain +1 point in Perception.

'_I like the idea of getting more money or dealing more damage with Bloody Mess or Fortune Finder, but I don't think they are worth it. FEEL IT is really cool. Being able to sense the chakra in enemy nin will help me in the field, but I already got the first level of that last time. Focus! sounds interesting, and could be useful when I am biting into a kunai and trying to perform techniques, but most of them seem to involve breathing, coughing, or vomiting something up. So even if I didn't have to say the name, I still couldn't hold a kunai. So while cool in theory, it seems poor in practice. The final perk, though, interests me as much as my Chakra Sensing ability._' Peering at the description for Nature Transformation, I thought to myself, '_Since the last level up, I have been searching for the 'guidebook'. I couldn't find it, but Anko-senpai said Nature Transformation was a Chuunin level skill that developed a person's natural affinity to a particular element, giving the person greater control and power with that affinity._'

'_So, enhanced sensing, or more power?_' I thought, summarizing the situation. It took another minute or two before I finally came to an answer.

'_My logic from my last level up still stands. I can get techniques, but I don't really need that many and those I have right now might not even be my natural affinity. So it comes down to a power-up that may help me or something that will always be useful._' Selecting FEEL IT, I closed the window and finally left the Hokage's office.

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

Feeling a cool breeze, I continued my march alongside the wagons. It had been almost three days since the march had started, and I had almost called out 'Bandit!' four times already, all within the first day. I started out the trip ready for anything, expecting the unexpected, peering into every shadow, my chakra senses constantly on alert for even the faintest trace of an enemy ninja, or a bandit, or anything remotely hostile. Almost three days of nothing begin to grate on senses, my discipline, and my patience. All began to wear down until only one thought remained.

"I am SO bored!" I said loudly for what seemed the millionth time that day.

"What were you expecting, brat? That we were going to be secretly escorting royalty on a mission to overthrow a government in a border country?" Anko-senpai asked incredulously, not knowing how close she came to guessing what one of my missions in my prior life actually was.

I gave a sigh. "I would just settle for bandits, sensei."

A scoff came from one of the wagons. "Ninja…" An old man muttered irritably.

Frowning, I turned to him. "What?"

He gave his head a shake. "Only ninja would _hope_ for bandits. Normal folk try to avoid them, samurai yell at them about their lack of honour, merchants bribe them enough so they won't kill them but not too much so they get greedy and kill them anyway, but ninja, you people hope for them to show up and then leave nothing left of them." All that only caused sensei to chortle evilly, before responding.

"And out of all of those people, who would you like beside you when walking into bandit territory?" He gave a grunt and turned back to driving his horse.

We walked in silence for another quarter mile or so before we came across a road block.

"Halt!" one of the uniformed men called out, coming out of what could only be described as a ramshackle hut.

'_No wonder these people are turning to banditry. Just looking at how the country treats people who are supposed to be working for it tells you how the economy here is faring,_' I thought, barely concealing a head shake at the sad state of affairs.

"I'll need to see your papers for crossing our border." The guard called out, only to be met with a merchant a moment later, carrying a briefcase.

"Naruto," Anko-senpai said, turning to me, "Warn your teammates of an impending bandit attack."

"Sensei, we just hit the border. Do you really think we will see a bandit that soon?" Trying to sense any immediate threat, all I could find were the low level chakra signatures of the merchants, the border guards, and my teammates, not to mentions sensei herself.

"That guard came out of a hut, barely deserving of the title, and he is sporting at least three pieces of jewellery that I can see from here. How could he afford something like that without an additional source of income?" She turned from leering at the guard to leer at me. "Now go tell your teammates to get ready, like I ordered you to."

"Yes, sensei," I turned and jogged off looking down the line for Hibachi and Ami. I found the first sharing a seat with a driver, and Ami I found way at the front of the carriage, missing her several times due to her use of genjutsu.

When I had told them both, I made my way back to my teachers side.

"It's done," I told her, quite unnecessarily.

"Good, now get to work with that chakra sensing. You should be able to spot them a good distance off."

"Understood, sensei," I muttered distractedly, turning 'on' my chakra senses. I could feel the 'pings' of the small chakra sources around me, the merchants and the border guard, the marginally larger ones from Ami and Hibachi, and the large one from sensei.

I spread my newest sense out to scan the woods around us, only to find nothing.

"Naruto," sensei spoke up from beside me. "We're moving."

"Thanks," I said, keeping close to her, and keeping a watchful 'eye' on the forests around us.

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

It was two hours later when I finally got something.

"Sensei," I called out.

"What's up?"

"Trouble, possibly. I only have three men with low chakra reserves in the woods so far, but it's three more than ten minutes ago."

She nodded at that. "Are they clustered in a group? What is their direction and range?"

"They're clustered 200 yards in that direction," I said, pointing north-west.

"Let me know when there are more, and what direction. Stay by this wagon, I'll tell the other two."

"Let you know when there are more? Why not just take them down now?" I said indignantly. 'Why should we be the ones in the ambush, anyway? We're ninja! We're supposed to get the drop on people.'

"One, because this isn't Fire Country, and as such attacking someone on the side of the road could lead to you being reprimanded along with the rest of the team, and a political fiasco at the end of which the Leaf will have to pay fees to the 'injured' party, and the country of origin for not respecting international treaty." She paused, waiting for that to sink in. "And because I said so, so stop questioning my orders and follow them!" With that she stalked away as I grumbled about being told off.

Three minutes later I got more 'pings', and five minutes after that. Twenty minutes after first spotting them I could sense near twenty men in total, split on either side of the road, pacing with the wagon.

An ambush was only an order away.

At some point Anko must have let the merchants know, because they were virtually hugging their carriages with how far away they were from the side of the road. The caravan was silent as the grave as we marched down the road. The creaking of wheels and occasional snorts from labour beasts the only sounds that cut through the fog of tension weaving its way down the caravan.

Then I felt a final blip on my chakra senses. This one on the road directly ahead of us. I looked up at sensei, who only motioned her hand downward twice with her palm down. Nodding my ascent, I stayed where I was, doing my best not to stare at the woods where I knew men to be hiding.

Slowly the caravan rounded a bend in the road, and into sight came a man sitting on a soapbox, a blade present on his back, and his polished black leather armour glistening in the midday sun.

He stood up, and put his hand up, as Anko did the same behind her back to me and Ami, and Ami in turn to Hibachi.

The lead cart stopped, and Yamamato-san called down to the armoured man. "Who are you?"

Raising an eyebrow, the man in black spoke back softly. "The caravan's new owner." And with that whistled.

The men on either side of the wagons got up and began shouting and jeering at us. '_Oh no,_' I thought sardonically. '_Twenty bandits insulting my mother, what ever shall I do?_'

The men continued jeering until the big bad up front held up his hands. "Surrender your belongings peacefully and no one will be hurt. Resist, and, well…" A cruel grin marked his face. "Not so much!"

The grunts laughed on either side of the wagon. As their laughter faded off, Anko's remained. Attracting every eye as her laughter echoed in the silence, she stopped abruptly and turned wild eyes and a mad grin to the bandit leader.

"Okay!" she said way too gleefully. The cutting quality of it only outdone by the kunai she threw when she finished saying it.

Ducking the kunai, the bandit leader shouted for his men to attack. I was already halfway through hand seals. '_Here we go!_'

"Clone technique!" I shouted, before three copies of me burst to life and rushed headlong at the bandits on the side of the road.

Time to take stock, I had ten bandits on my side, and ten were on the other with Ami and Hibachi, with Anko-senpai at the front dealing with the ass-hole in the bondage gear. I mentally directed my clones to run and 'engage' the men on the flanks of the ten men coming towards me. This caused the men on the ends to try to fight the clones and the rest, only three, came towards me in a tight cluster.

'_Tight enough for me to do this,_' I thought tossing three shuriken idly at the men, before clapping my hands.

"Wind release, gale palm!" The shuriken were super accelerated and drove deep into the necks of the first three bandits making satisfying crunching sounds. They collapsed, clutching at their throats, and making odd gurgling sounds.

+60 XP

Looking to my right, I saw another three bandits engaging my clone, who was dodging their attacks easily.

I gave a grin as I ran over, jumping and delivering a kunai to the back of one of their heads.

+20 XP

Riding him down, I roll off as he hits the ground, pulling the kunai with me, before turning and delivering a slash to the leg of another bandit. He clutches the leg and starts trying to hop away, but throwing the kunai into his chest and he went down.

+20 XP

In the meantime the last bandit had hit my clone, revealing the duplicity there, and came after me with a rather flimsy looking kodachi. Grabbing another kunai, I blocked his first three downward strikes, and handsprung sideways to dodge his kicks. Now that I had some room, I threw another two shuriken and clapped my hands again behind them, shouting "Wind release, gale palm!". He dodged the first, but the second shuriken embedded itself in his shoulder, the force of it spinning him to the ground. Leaping over to him, I plunged my kunai into the back of his neck while it was exposed.

+20 XP

Grabbing the kodachi, I looked for the last group, whom were just dispatching my illusionary clone. Grabbing more shuriken, I again threw them combined with a ninjutsu assisted speed boost. Three of the bandits dodged or blocked. One of them did not.

+20 XP

I waited again before the all began to charge at me. Waiting a beat for them to draw closer, I formed five hand seals. "Substitution technique!"

Suddenly the bandits were facing their own dead comrade and wondering where I had gone. Meanwhile, I threw another brace of shuriken, and they were gone with a clap and a call of "Wind release, gale palm!".

+60 XP

Picking up my missing kunai and shuriken, and making sure the bandits were dead I looked for my teammates and teacher. I found the prior next to the first wagon, staring horrified at the former.

Anko stood with her back to us, and with her arms spread open, and raised to the sky, as if she was conducting an orchestra. Then there was the former bandit leader, hanging in the air, bound at the hands and feet. At some point during their fight, the man's clothes had gone through extreme duress. There was very little left of his shirt. His pants however, were done around his ankles, and one of Anko's snakes was inserted somewhere I was pretty sure it should have never gone.

"So I am going to ask you one more time," Anko spoke clearly, and clearly trying to hold down a chuckle. "Do you have any more friends around here?"

"Hrgkl!" The man choked as the snake in his anus writhed.

"…NO! There ain't no one else!" the ex-bandit leader screamed in agony.

"Oh, goodie! That means there's no point in keeping you alive, is there?" Anko said, delighting in the way the man's eyes bulged.

"WAIT! THERE ARE MORE!"

That statement was met by a tilted head and pout from sensei. "Aw, but you told me there wasn't anyone left…" She changed her mood with a shrug, going from playful to serious interrogation. "So, how many are you, where are the rest, and how long until they notice you are gone?"

The snake had gone still, letting the man speak without gasps of pain. "We are over a hundred in number, and we make our base a league west, and I was not to check in for another hour."

"Excellent!" Anko said cheerfully, before the snake began moving again. The man's screams quickly became shorter gasps, sounding more like dry heaves. The skin over his stomach began to bulge. Further and further. Then with a final scream, the bandit's stomach and intestines exploded through his skin, and then his arms and legs were ripped off. The torso fell to the ground, twitching, with the head whipping back and forth, as if still trying to live. In the meantime, all of Anko's snakes returned to their homes in her sleeves, except for the snake who exploded out of the man's stomach. That one returned to her skirt bottom, and probably some place I would probably not see in my life-time.

She looked back at my part horrified, part incredulous expression and she smiled and shrugged. "What can I say? A girl likes the power between her legs."

Hibachi looked at her with an ashen face, and quickly ran to join Ami, who had left during the 'show' to vomit behind the caravan.

I shook my head and swallowed my own bile, before I thought of a question I wanted to ask.

"Sensei, faux dick snakes aside, why did you kill that bandit? He had already lost, surrendered and gave up info on his allies. Not to mention that whole international treaty you mentioned when I wanted to attack the bandits in the bushes. Surely disembowelment of prisoners goes against that."

She nodded once and held her hands behind her back. "In order, no it isn't, and simple psychology. When a peasant, or a person of no military, diplomatic, or political rank," she stops to point at the still twitching corpse, "attacks someone of one of those three from a visiting country who has already passed inspection," now she pointed at herself, "then all punishment is decided by the party attacked. And I did that because when the rest of that group comes after us, and they will come after us, will see what happened to the last group. And they will know by this kunai," a flick of her wrist sent a kunai to lodge deeply in the corpses skull, "that we are ninja, and that they have no chance to exact revenge for what we did here. It should save us a fight, and maybe a life or two. Of the merchants, that is."

I gave a nod showing my understanding, and she ruffled my hair. "Don't worry, it gets better. After you see death for a while, it stops becoming so terrible."

I shook of her comforting hand and I went to go loot the bodies of the dead.

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

I went through five of the bodies on my side, taking everything they had. Blades, clothes, alcohol, food, and something on guy had that was called a 'Nuka-Kora', that looked kinda of fizzy, so I decided to save that for later too. The weapons were all cheap and did less damage than my kunai, and the clothes were smelly, damaged, worthless, and dirty at the worst and flamboyant at the best, all labelled under 'Raider Armour'. With the sixth guy, though, I found something better that just stuff for selling.

On the guy that had been a pain in the ass to kill, the one with the kodachi, there was a very smart looking, not completely unwashed set of armour, titled simply 'Leather Armour, Jacket', 'Leather Armour, Pants', 'Leather Armour, Gloves' and 'Leather Armour, Boots'.

'_Let's see, nine damage resistance on the jacket, nine on the pants, two on the gloves, and 4 on the boots. All of this is better, and more expensive, than what I have on. And if I put this all on, I should still have room for my goggles and forehead protector. Any reasons not to switch? Well, it did have a dead guy in it, but aside from that, we're good! Awesome, switching up the outfits!_' I thought, before activating the Leather Armour items, and exiting the pause screen.

Moving around to get a better feel for my new outfit, it was honestly much the same as my other except a little warmer, and the boots didn't let my toes breath, but I did like the way the soft leather felt. And I liked the way it looked. Feeling the hardened leather shoulder plates, I thought to myself, _'Oh yeah, I look like a certified bad-ass now!_' Then a niggling doubt entered my mind. '_I bet that's what the last guy who wore it thought, too._'

With that sobering thought, I started dragging the corpses off of the road, so that the civilians wouldn't have to see them. Then Ami came over, apparently done on her side, to help. We lasted about thirty seconds before she asked a question.

"Naruto?" she asked in a bit of a high pitched voice.

"Yes?" I responded patiently, or as patiently as I could get anyway.

"Why did you take all of their clothes? I mean, I understand taking their weapons, so they don't hurt any travellers behind us, but why their clothes?" she asked almost all in one breath.

"Can't really see what they'll be using them for, and selling off their stuff pads my expense account so I can go and buy things like explosive tags without having to forego food for a month."

"But won't they need them when they wake up?" she asked in now what I knew to be an innocent voice. It tore me apart.

"No, Ami, they won't need it. Because they are not waking up. Because this guy that we are carrying, isn't unconscious. He's dead."

She immediately dropped her part of the carcass, and leaping back in disgust. "What!? You killed him?! You killed all of them?!" she cried, unknowingly answering her own question. I was a little affronted at this point though, so I shouted back at her.

"Yeah! What was I supposed to do?"

"Knock them out! Like Hibachi and I did!"

That earned a frown from me. "What did you two do?"

An irritated huff came before the explanation. "I held them in a genjutsu while Hibachi went around hitting them on the back of the head! Hibachi and I tied ours up! But you are just dumping the bodies on the side of the road."

"What you and Hibachi did was excellent teamwork," Anko-sensei said from behind us, causing Ami and me to jump. '_She must have snuck up on us while we were shouting._'

"It demonstrated clear-headedness in combat that few Genin teams have. That being said, don't nag at Naruto for how he handled it. There's nothing wrong with how either of you handled yourselves, so don't nitpick. Right now we need to get these merchants moving, so when their buddies come we aren't here." She plastered a big fake smile and nodded mockingly as she finished, as if we were retarded for not seeing it that way from the beginning.

I nodded wearily and went to go and do as sensei commanded, not noticing the way Ami stared incredulously at her, or at me.

**Naruto: Fractured Fate**

The sun gradually sank as our sad and sombre company continued their trek onwards. Maybe it wasn't they who were sad though. Maybe it was just me.

Okay, sad might be a little bit of a stretch. I might be more intelligent but I'll be _damned_ if I was going to go around being depressed or angry over everything like that bastard.

It was only a bare few hours since they had seen action facing off against the joe-schmoes with rusty blades, and I was still… I don't know.

I was standing off to the side of the second wagon as we were walking along, my chakra sense turned off a while ago when it started getting to taxing on even my chakra reserves, and around me were three or four conversations that I wasn't paying attention to. I had something much more significant on my mind at the moment.

'_Why did I kill them?_' I thought, staring at the ground as I puttered down the road apace with the wagons.

'_I didn't need to, it just happened so fast,_' I thought before shaking my head. '_No, I can't use that as an excuse, I did kill them. Why?_'

My eyes glanced up at the tree line aside the road as I continued to ponder. '_In my previous life I harmed virtually no one, and at the end it ended up costing me, but what has happened to make me so calloused to not even consider taking a life until I have taken a dozen?_'

'_Well, I did die…_' I thought with a scoff. '_No, it wasn't that though. I stand by my actions. I couldn't kill him, even if he did kill me. So it was something else. I need to find what has changed between last life and this one._'

I thought for a minute, numbering the differences large and small in my mind, comparing them and measuring in any way of significant importance. Then I stubbed my toe on a rock, completely forgot about the entire list and started from the top.

'_Okay, so obvious stuff first. One, I am in a game. Two, I am much smarter this time around. Three, I actually passed the academy graduation. Four, fucking shadow clones. Five, I have a different team, and that means new teammates and a new sensei. Six, is of course the way I've been taught this time around, or at least the missions I've been taking alongside my team._' I paused for a minute before shrugging. '_That's all I've got, but none of that has anything to do with death, or at least killing._'

I pulled my forehead protector off and rent at my hair in frustration.

'_Then what the fuck is wrong? I wouldn't even kill Tora the last time and gods know how much that hell spawn deserved it._'

I skipped a step as a realization rocketed in to me.

'_The missions… Last time around my team and I always painted fences, or picked up groceries or watched some hellions for a few hours. This time around it was always more or less the same thing, but then there would be spiders, or rats or some other vermin that needed to be killed to…in order to complete the mission._' The final thought dragged slowly.

'_It wasn't anything I did, I am just used to killing obstacles, the only times I have killed in this life is either aforementioned vermin or something seriously dangerous like that giant bear._' Yet another realization rocked me.

'_I saw them as vermin. That's all they were to me. They weren't people, or rounin, or bandits, or raiders, or poor men, or mercenaries or however they could have been described. To me they were vermin, an obstacle, and so I removed them from my path._'

"Hey," came the voice from the driver beside me, startling me out of my reverie. "It's gonna be okay, kid."

I gave a grunt and the driver was silent a moment. "Now I saw what you did, and I honestly think it was pretty disturbing, especially the lady with the snakes." Here he stopped to stare off into space and shiver a bit before turning back to me. "But I think that it was right. Maybe not good, but right."

I turned my head slowly upward to stare, incredulous, at the drivers weathered face. He looked down at me and leased a broken smile.

"Now what would have been wrong, what them bandits would'a done to us if y'all hadn't been here." He turned his attention back to the beast in front of him.

"But that's just my opinion, if ya really wanna know morals, you gotta find yer own. Man can't live by…" The driver trailed off in his speech, cocking his head away from.

"Did you hear something?"

Turning back to the forest, I realized I did hear something. A great many somethings. Rustles of leaves being brushed aside, faint clanking of steel against padded steel, and something else… a small hissing.

My eyes widened as I realized what it was, and what was going to happen. In the time I had before the hissing closed in, I drew in my breath and shouted out a single word.

"AMBUSH!"

Then a volley of hissing projectiles closed in around us before exploding, throwing the men standing to the ground and the entire scene into disarray.

I leaped to my feet, only to find an explosive tag laden kunai in the space in front of me.

With a roar and a great heat it exploded, throwing me back into a rock on the side of the trail.

I could feel warm blood trickle down the back of my head as my vision started to fade. The last things I saw before I lost consciousness were a great host of bandits, and at their head, one dressed in a fine robe, the other in dark grey/black armour, holding a katana levelled at Anko-sensei.

**Editor's note:** Aw, faux dicks? Darn. :3


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